The Oath in Our Hearts
by Heaven's Chocolate
Summary: He was a son dutifully making his family proud, a brother protecting the bright smile of his little sister. He was prisoner in chains, a fool with good intentions. 'Mere goodness can achieve little against the power of nature', this may be true, but he would go fight against such notion. He would take the Mages Association and the world down, for them. Always for them.
1. Prologue: I am Thou

_2/13 Afternoon_

Shirou Emiya walked out of his room, all freshened up and dressed in his signature blue and white long-sleeve shirt and jeans. He headed down the stairs of the Emiya Household, his steps enthusiastic as he got ready for the afternoon. He passed the living room, seeing Leysritt asleep on the sofa with the TV turned on. He stopped as he saw the headline for the news, the anchor reported the facts with cold professionalism.

"—the shocking death of a Diet Member in one of the prestigious hospital's in Tokyo thanks to the negligence of one of the doctors has left the public appalled. The Director of the Hospital has defended himself by saying that the death of the politician was supposedly the result of the rumored Mental Shutdown cases plaguing our country for the past year. Police have begun conducting—!"

He frowned at the news as he moved away from the living room. He pulled out his phone to check the news he had been reading earlier in the day. "They haven't let up with this thing…"

He shook his head, ridding himself of the depressing news and returned his focus towards the positive. He would be heading out with his sister this afternoon, so it would be better that he got ready quickly. He wouldn't want to bring down the enthusiasm that Illya had shown him earlier. He headed for the front door of the house, bending down to put on his sneakers and nodded in satisfaction at the speed and precision with which he tied his laces. Getting up to his feet, he waited for—

"Young man, you will keep a watchful eye on your younger sister, understood?" The stern voice of Sella made him turn towards her. The woman was dressed in her casual attire, with a broom in her hand as she looked at him with sternness. He gulped at the look.

"Yes Sella…"

"You will make sure that the two of you remain safe and sound by the time you return."

"Yeah…"

"And I will not have you dallying around. Your mother left me with the responsibility of taking care of you two while she and your father are away on their business trip for this month! I expect you to return in two hours! Is that understood?"

Shirou sighed, scratching his cheek in embarrassment at the lecture he was receiving. He watched the pale-haired woman looked at him with a stern expression and he felt the need to answer quickly, lest he face her wrath again. "Don't worry, we won't stay out for long Sella."

The most responsible and strict maid of the Emiya Household nodded resolutely and crossed her arms. "Quite so, as Lady Illya's elder brother, it is your responsibility to set an example for what the young Lady must aspire to be. I won't have you acting like a ruffian and setting bad habits for the young Lady."

The redhead looked somewhat offended by that remark. "What is that supposed to mean!?"

"Humph, don't act so innocent…" She gave him a squinted look that made him back up. "I know how much of a charmer you are with the girls in your school… that is already a demerit in your attitude in my books!"

"C-Come on…it's not my fault…" Shirou started as he sweated in embarrassment at the cold truth, images of many of his female classmate when he said something without thinking and the clear anger in Shinji's at that.

"Onii-chan!" He turned away from Sella and saw Illya running towards him with a smile on her face. That look on her face was enough to erase the embarrassment he was feeling as he saw the young girl reach him. She looked up at him and nodded excitedly. "You ready?"

"Of course."

Sella cough slightly and grabbed the siblings attention. She looked at Illya and gave her a small smile.

"Now Lady Illya, due remember to be careful and to not speak with strangers. Stay by your brother's side at all times."

Shirou looked away with a small grimace as he scratched his cheek. "…Why can't I ever get it that easy with her…?"

"What was that young man!?" Sella's stern voice caused him to flinch back into attention and gave the older female a shaky smile.

"Nothing…nothing…!"

Sella's hands were on her hip, taking a deep breath to commence with a new rant on him—

"Sella's acting like a hag again…" The three turned towards Leysritt, the second maid of the house walked forward—still in her sleepwear and looking at them with a lazy gaze. Sella scoffed indignantly.

"Leysritt!"

Shirou was about to watch another bout between the two maids go down, but he was hurriedly pushed towards the entrance by Illya. He looked down and saw her wearing an exasperated expression as she stared up at him.

"Let's go!"

And with those words the two left, making sure to lock the door behind them. Illya had come out of the house barefoot and was quickly trying to put her shoes on while hopping from one foot to the other. Before he even had a chance to chastise her for doing that, she took off running down the streets. The redhead was caught off guard by this and he quickly went after her.

"H-Hey! Wouldn't it be better to grab the bikes!?"

"No time Onii-chan!"

"W-Wait a minute—!"

The girl ran through the streets with gleeful abandon. "We gotta hurry Onii-chan!"

"Don't run so fast! You'll trip and fall!"

"I'll be fine!"

"Illya…! If we keep going like this we'll be all sweaty and gross!"

"But the chocolates…!"

The two kept running at this pace, until they passed the Fuyuki bridge and made it into the Shinto District. They slowed down, stopping by a corner to catch their breaths and cool down. After a few minutes, they were on the move once more—though, thankfully at a much slower pace.

The cool air of the winter season made Shirou's skin prickle and made his sweaty clothes cold against his skin. Shaking and ridding himself of the irritating shiver, he let his eyes roam towards Illya. His little sister was taking point in this little expedition of theirs, stubbornly pushing past the crowd of people in the Shinto district. He smiled as he hurried his steps to walk alongside the small white haired girl.

"Don't go so fast Illya, you'll get lost."

His sister looked at him with wide red eyes and pouted as she kept going forward. "But Onii-chan! If we don't hurry, they'll sell off those Valentine chocolates the other girls told me about!"

"Humph, and whose fault is it? I told you that if you wanted to get a gift for someone, you needed to do it in time and not leave it to the last second."

"Yeah, but…"

"And anyway. Whoever you want to give the chocolate to, you should've told me! I would've been more than happy to make them and help you give them to whomever." Shirou nodded and smiled affectionately towards his little sister. The girl turned a deep shade of red and looked down, sweat rolling off her heated cheeks.

"…but I wanted to give them to you…" She murmured in embarrassment. The redhead cocked his head and raised an eyebrow.

"What was that?"

The girl flinched, looking up in alarm at almost being caught. Her eyes darted to the side and saw the entrance of a large chocolate store which was adorned with hearts and fluffy signs. Perking up, she took off running in quick retreat. "Here we are!"

"H-Hey! Wait up!" Shirou called out as he took off after her.

The inside of the store was packed, making it hard to move. Yet Illya pushed on with fierce determination through the aisles to find her chocolates and Shirou wasn't far behind, always keeping a watchful eye on his little sister. Minutes ticked by as the two struggled to find the desired sweets—but…

"T-they're sold out…" Illya said sullenly as she looked at the empty table where they were supposed to be displayed. Shirou sighed and sympathetically patted her head.

"Come on, how about we see if we can find any other chocolates? I bet whoever gets them will like them as long as it's you giving it to them."

"Hmm…" Illya looks up at him with bright red eyes. "Whoa! Onii-chan…When did you get so smooth?"

"Gah—! What are you saying!?" The redhead blushed, before moving away with a smiling Illya in tow. "Come on."

Time passed, as the store slowly started to empty of its customers. As they left, Shirou was now holding a basket with his right forearm, while slowly and curiously inspecting a bag of crepes, wondering if the taste was consistent, sweet and yummy enough to eat. He pursed his lips as he shook the bag. "Hey Illya, you think these crepes will taste sweet or sour? I could make some if—?"

He stopped as he turned around and didn't find a small girl with white hair. He narrowed his eyes, looking around but found nothing. His heart started beating fast as he moved to search for his little sister.

"Illya!" He called out as he looked through every aisles, but didn't find his little sister. Now his insides grew cold as he started to walk faster towards the store's exit. "Illya!"

"Hey! Hey sir!" A female voice made Shirou stopped and he whirled around towards an annoyed cashier with customers trying to pay. She gestured towards his basket. "Sir, if you're planning on leaving, pay up. Otherwise I'll be force to call secu—!"

He didn't let her finish as he reached her, ignoring the disgruntled and angry customer in line. "Have you seen a little girl with white hair?"

"Uh…what?" The cashier looked confused as her annoyance gave away to the subtle desperation Shirou was demonstrating.

"A little girl with white hair…" Shirou repeated, feeling a tad annoyed at wasting time here. "She has big red eyes, pale…she's my sister and I can't find her."

"O-Oh! Yes, I saw her go out of the store like a minute ago si—!" Shirou didn't even hear what she said as he put the basket on the counter in front of the cashier and ran out of the store.

He sped through the crowded streets as he looked around for Illya, not bothering to be careful with who he crashed into. His breathing came in short bursts, his focus zoning entirely into tunnel-like vision as he payed attention for anyone with white hair. He looked from all around him but found nothing.

His heart hammered violently against his ribcage as he tried to—

Suddenly his eyes zoomed in on a familiar little girl with white hair who was looking around in an alleyway, confused and regretful as she walked into it.

His eyes went wide and he immediately took off towards her. He reached her immediately and got down to his knees before her, startling her with his surprise appearance in the dark alleyway.

"Illya! Are you okay!?"

"W-W-Wha—! I…yeah…yeah I'm fine…" The girl looked down with a blush and a guilty expression. Shirou let out a sigh of relief, but narrowed his eyes at her.

"What were you thinking running off like that Illya!? You scared the hell out of me back there…"

"I'm sorry Onii-chan it's just…" She blushed deep scarlet and bowed her head, muttering something.

Shirou raised an eyebrow at the odd behavior. "What's that? I didn't catch it."

The girl turned even redder and buried her face into his chest. "I… I just saw someone who looked like that Detective Prince from Shibuya…and… I wanted to see if it was him…"

Shirou looks down at her and let out a sigh escaped him. "Really? That's all? Geez, you went ahead and gave me a scare just for that?"

"Hrm…" Illya squirmed at his words, the redhead just sighed and patted her head affectionately.

"…fine, I guess I can't get to mad at you. You're about that age anyway…"

"…" Illya closed her eyes and cringed at his words. Shirou stood up and took her hand.

"Just don't be so reckless."

"… Sorry Onii-chan—!"

"Is the area secure?" A lazy male voice called out in English, but Shirou understood somewhat the words that had been uttered. Both siblings flinched towards the area where the voice came from and saw a man wearing white clothes walking backwards—holding an assault rifle in his hands.

Shirou's eyes immediately went wide, his first instinct screaming at him to grab Illya and run out of the alleyway. However, just as his arms reached for the frozen Illya and wrapped themselves around her, another man with a similar uniform appeared to meet his armed ally. Shirou quickly pulled his sister towards him and lunged both her and himself behind a mountain of garbage bags. He put a hand on her mouth and shushed her with a serious look. She nodded as they heard even more footsteps.

The two huddled close together, balling themselves against the garbage bags and pressing back as they saw a man in white walking forward lazily with his weapons on his back. Both brother and sister grew stiff at the sight, especially when he started to turn around and—

Everything went black as Shirou, filled with dread at the dangerous men, had pressed against the garbage bags a little too tightly—tipping some of the bags above and making them fall over him and Illya. Obscure and frozen in fear and dread, they heard the armed man grunt.

"Damn easterners…don't they know how to keep their streets clean?"

"Stop goofing off moron! Lord Marisbury is making his way here." A female voice admonished as the man who almost caught the brother and sister pair huffed in annoyance.

Shirou carefully looked down at Illya, and pulled the hand away from her mouth and made her look at him. He gestured for her to be quiet and she gave a shaky nod. Satisfied, he twisted his body carefully, trying to make the garbage bags not fall or make any noise. He managed to make the bag move slightly and see that the man from earlier was gone. He started to move, but stoppedas even more people entered the area.

"Lord Marisbury, Assistant Director! We have secured the area!"

"Good, good." An aged and dry voice exclaimed. "As to be expected from my security detail. Your presence here is quite important, especially when concerning this accursed city. A city which has housed four distinctive Wars…or should I say three and a half? The Fourth War was cancelled prematurely…perhaps there are echoes of it still going on and the Association wasn't aware of it, hmm? I do wonder if your secure area holds any significance when fighting against the might of such powerful familiars known as Servants."

"…" There was an uncomfortable silence with audible nervous gulps breaking the awkwardness and adding to the bizarreness of the moment.

"It was a joke." Shirou raised an eyebrow and looked down at Illya, who shared his perplexed look.

"Lord Marisbury…" The soft spoken and exasperated voice of another man filtered into the siblings hears.

"Humph, Assistant Director, can you not take a joke?"

"It isn't that my Lord…but, I don't think this is the time to be joking around. This situation we're in…is far too dangerous…"

"What do you expect of me? To stay back in my home, honing my research carelessly and twiddling my thumbs as I wait for my execution?"

"My Lord, I…"

"This city was meant to give us the answers we needed in order to finally put a stop to all those wretched murders that have been happening to us, my dear Assistant Director. The Mental Shutdown and Psychotic Breakdowns cases… the problem plaguing us that started within the borders of this eastern country and that has affected beyond it."

Shirou frowned slightly as the titles he had given to the cases reminded him of something he had read earlier in the day. He shook his head and focused on finding a way out.

The Lord continued in a cold and dry tone. "An eastern problem should be exactly that, an eastern problem—and yet we've already had mixed casualties inside the very walls of the Clocktower thanks to the Shutdowns and Breakdowns. And that's not even talking about the entire fiasco with the Bartholomei family… such a disastrous show of uncontrollable power when one's mind is driven into insanity by this bizarre case."

"Lord Marisbury, that is exactly why I had advised for you to bring a more specialize security detail. Not to insult the people here…but, this a serious matter you're dealing with. An unknown case with no knowledge on how's it done or performed and your security is far too lax! Sir you could get kill…" The Assistant Director admonished with an annoyed huff.

Shirou managed to remove some of the bags off their bodies and freeing them from the weight of garbage and its smell. Looking down at his sister, he saw her let out a silent breath of relief as she swallowed nervously. Shirou grabbed onto her tightly and sneaked a view back, seeing the man who almost caught them with his back towards them and many more guards all standing in attention for two men.

One was a tall man dressed in aristocratic black and white clothing, his back towards him. Shirou assumed that this man was the Lord, while the other man dressed more like a doctor was the Assistant Director. The redhead shook his head and turned away, as he began to slowly sneak away with Illya.

"Humph, what does it matter?" Marisbury's voice was one of anger. "It is as you said, the method on how these cases have happened remains unknown to either of us. Civilian victims, mage victims…in the end both suffer the same fate. What security detail should I have brought? The most expensive? The most likely to grab the attention of whoever is behind this? No, it is better this way. After all, if the theory of major Human Foundations located within certain areas around the country is true…then I should be fine. No one would be looking for me here. This city, a warzone for the Holy Grail that could grant any miracle—and yet that Grail is nothing but a defunct piece of rock now incapable of giving me the answers I seek. I can see that Einzbern homunculi and her assassin Kiritsugu Emiya did a number on it."

"What…!?"

"Papa…!?"

Both siblings froze, realizing they had spoken out loud as they were inches away from exiting the alleyway. The two looked back and saw every guard, the Lord and his assistant looking at them. Marisbury narrowed his eyes and gestured towards them.

"Get them!"

Shirou was already running even before the man had moved his lips to say those words. He had grabbed Illya and sped away, ignoring her startled cry. Carrying the small girl in his arms and holding her close to his chest, he ran like a mad man through the streets of Shinto.

He looked back and saw two men in white running towards him at great speeds. Startled by this Shirou took a right and arrived into a crowded street, using his body to push and force his way past people. He ignored their indignant cries as he ran with Illya in his arms. Once more he looked back and saw the men, alongside others pushing through the crowd, not running, but their steps brisk and forceful as they made their way towards them.

"Onii-chan!" Illya's cries just gave him more strength and adrenaline to run. He ran into an open area, seeing a pair of stairs, that would lead to the underground mall of Shinto and took off towards it. As he took the stairs, he saw a lonely young man with shaggy light brown hair tap into his phone as he walked forward. Shirou ignored this as he looked back in distraught and—

There was shift in his vision as he saw the very same entrance he had taken was now closed off with a reddish metal gate.

"H-Huh—!"

Shirou didn't even managed to voice his confusion as he tripped on the steps and fell. He gritted his teeth as his back bounced off the steps, while his arms fiercely held Illya as she hugged into him with each bounce. Once his body ceased its stumbling as it reached the final step, he let out a groan and let his arm go toward his back, trying to soothe the pain. Illya looked down at him in concern and immediately stood up.

"Onii-chan! Are you okay!?"

The young man bared his teeth, and got up to his feet with shaky legs. He nodded at her as he held his back.

"Y-Yeah…but, are you okay Illya!?"

"I'm fine Onii-chan…but…" The girl looked around, and he could see the goosebumps in her skin as she looked uncomfortable. "What's wrong with this place… did… did they redecorate the underground mall…?"

Confused, Shirou looked up and analysed their surroundings. A dark and twisted hall met their gaze. The floor looked cracked and dirty with numerous of empty stores going on and on until they divided into two different paths. The air twisted and carrying grime and an intense stench—

But the most unsettling thing was the silence… nothing at all, but dread filled them.

Illya took a step back, her body shaking with fear and tears filled her eyes. Thankfully, Shirou was there to wipe them away. She looked up at him in surprise as he hugged her, using his arms to pull her up and carry her. He stared down at her red eyes and nodded.

"I don't know what's wrong with this place but…going back isn't an option…I won't let dangerous men like them get their hands on you, no matter what."

Illya pursued her lips as she looked up at the darken top of the stairs, fear and apprehension settling in at the mere thought of those men bursting in and catching them. She scrunched up her face as she remembered something.

"But what about what they said…about papa…and what's a homunculi, that couldn't be mama…right, Onii-chan?"

"I doesn't matter for now Illya…" He said as he stretched his hurt back, hissed and shook his head. He took a step forward. "Let's just make it to the other side and get home, fast."

Illya nodded against his chest and Shirou looked up with determination as he began jogging forward. The deeper he went into the bizarre corridor, the more anxious he grew. He stopped once he reached the intersection and looked to the right—seeing at the far side a very clear dead end. He clicked his tongue and looked towards his left.

"I'm…I'm really not liking this Onii-chan…" He looked down at the nervous girl and sighed.

"Me neither…me neither…"

Shirou walked, his steps firms and his goals set even if his body was shaking with dread.

He wouldn't let Illya get hurt…

He couldn't…

He—

A loud crash behind them made Illya screech in fright and Shirou jumped as adrenaline filled his body once more. With his heart hammering his ribs away like a sledgehammer he whirled around to see a cloud of dust slowly dissipating, revealing a dark silhouette.

The older brother opened his mouth, ready to call out whoever was in the cloud…but his words froze at the tip of his tongue as he and Illya looked up.

And up.

And up.

Towering before them was a twitching monstrosity. Black and oozing an even a darker substance, the monster loomed over them. Various metal masks with blue eye holes were etched on its monstrous body, with the one attached to its 'head' acting as its face. The monster looked down at them.

Everything froze…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Until Illya's scream broke the silence sending everything back into motion. The monsters 'eyes' shone red and it began to lumber forward. Out of pure panic and desperation, Shirou turned around and ran.

Thundering footsteps echoed behind him, enticing him to go even faster. He took a right on the next corridor and just kept going, even if his back was killing him, he couldn't stop. He took another right.

"… He's catching up to us…!" Illya whimpered in fear and that just made him go even faster.

There was absolutely no choice for him here.

Even if his back was hurting…

Even if his legs were burning from running so fast and skidding to get each turn…

Even if it felt as if hours had passed with each step…

Even if his heart beat to the point of collapse…

He wouldn't stop.

He wouldn't let Illya get hurt.

The shadow of the monster loomed closer on the running teenager and overshadowed him.

Shirou took a left and saw a weird swirling red light—the steps on the floor ripping up as if contorted bizarrely and twirling hypnotically just like the red light. Shirou didn't know what he was about to do and he didn't know what that red light meant—

But…

He couldn't stop.

He just wouldn't.

His clenched his teeth tightly as he went into the red light and—

Fell.

He just collapsed.

Exhaustion wrestled control away from his tired body as he and Illya flopped down on the hard floor. The little girl let out a startled cry and Shirou slid on the hard pavement, causing him to grit his teeth in pain. Letting out a shaky breath, in pure panic, he whirled his downed body around to see if the lumbering giant was behind him—yet he found nothing.

Nothing, except for the red spiraling light.

"Wha…" Shirou's question was abandoned when he heard Illya gasp. He was about to turn around towards her, but an ear shattering explosion went off making him flinch.

"…" Illya backpaddled until her body was on top of the fallen redhead and she let her hands grip his clothing tightly. "Onii-chan…"

He didn't respond to her as his eyes were focused on the bizarre image in front of him—A red monster, with the face of a leopard on its chest growling angrily as a blackened robed figure with hair reaching its feet floated behind the monster, patiently waiting.

And opposing them was a lonely figure, dressed as dark as midnight with a helmet and mask of similar color. The figure slouch and raised his handgun towards the opposing duo with his left hand.

"So the intel about you holding some connection to that bible king is true…but to think you would take the form of one of his demons as well…" The words were distorted, unnatural and filled with callous disregard for the one who stood before him.

The monster roared—signifying the start of conflict…

The three clashed.

Like a hurricane of fire and metal, the battle reverberated throughout the small confined space the siblings found themselves in.

The floor cracked as the three delivered mighty blows.

The air burned as the red leopard face monster and blackened figure worked together to dominate the lonely figure with supernatural and holy strength.

The space crackled and twisted as the lonesome fighter matched their every move.

An explosion trumpeted harshly and right there—right at that moment Shirou saw it.

The dark cloth fighter reached with his left claw like hand for his mask, burning in blue fire, still obscuring his face— before a towering figure appeared behind him.

"Come…Loki!"

And the battle ended, the dark figure was suddenly overwhelm by a wave of dark and red power—taking a hold over its form. The blackened fighter let out an inhuman howl, its body revealing itself as the darkness covering his form dissipated. A robe of black, red and white adorned the now psychotic man as he began to glow gold with his once white hair quickly fading into gold—his body breaking apart as an eruption of power exuded from the screaming man.

Shirou and Illya yelled as the explosion shook them to their very core and flung them apart. The redhead impacted a far off wall and felt the air leave him. He slid down to the floor in a daze. His eyes wandered from left to right until he saw the lonely figure in black walk towards a man—Lord Marisbury.

"…W-what…!?" Shirou question with an incredulous look, confused and completely out of his depth, he watched as the lonely figure raised his gun to the man's forehead. Marisbury looked at him with a furious gaze, yet his face remained passive.

"Impossible…a Servant to be defeated like this…so easily…how is this possible…how…how could've you have found me? I had covered all my steps… I made sure to keep any contact with the Clock Tower to absolute zero…the only one aware of my expedition was… no… it can't be… was I sold out…by my own disciple…by Kirschtaria ?" The man questioned as he looked down stone faced. "I see… I had greatly underestimated just how much chaos has been going inside of the Mage Association… he was looking for protection and stopped me before I could even reach the truth… he simply chose the winning side…"

A gunshot went off—

The powerful noise echoed in the confine space.

"It doesn't matter…" Said the black mask assassin as the body of Marisbury fell backwards, a hole in his forehead. "You wouldn't have found anything…"

Marisbury dissolved and Shirou could only watch in bewilderment at the scene—

"Onii-chan!" The loud scream caught both males off guard as they twisted to see a terrified Illya looking at the black masked assassin. Tears streaming down her face as she stepped back until her back was pressed harshly against the wall. "Onii-chan! Where are you—!? Please… please Onii-chan!"

"Did I drag her in…?" The assassin wondered out loud as he began walking towards the scared Illya. He readied his gun. "Hmm…I'll just have to take care of her then."

Everything froze for Shirou as he heard those words.

 _…I'll just have to take care of her then…_

He was…

 _…take care of her then…_

He was going to kill Illya!?

No…

No.

No!

 **NO!**

He wasn't about to let that happen, no matter how bizarre everything was—

He wasn't going to let this murderer get anywhere near his sister!

Ignoring the pain in his body, he got up and lunged forward, unbeknownst to the murderer.

The black mask pointed his gun at the terrified Illya—

Her fearful gaze…

Her broken gaze…

He wouldn't let it end like this!

"STAY AWAY FR—!"

Bang!

His loud cry against the foul black mask assailant was cut short.

Shirou skidded to a stop, his feet wobbly as he was looking right into the eyes of the murderer before him.

"Another one…?" The black mask assassin muttered, but Shirou didn't care for that. He opened his mouth to scream at the murderer to step away from Illya—that he would stop him…

However…

"Glugh…!" Something wet spewed out of his mouth and he looked down at his clothes, which were now stained red. He grew dizzy as he stared at the blood pouring from his mouth and from the gunshot in his chest. He blinked rapidly to focus his eyes on Illya. "Guhk…Ill…guh…"

He collapsed to the floor.

"ONII-CHAN!"

Shirou stared at abyss-like ceiling of this bizarre area…his mind still reeling on how to help Illya. Just as the thought of her crossed his mind, she appeared. Little hands grabbing onto him as if her life depended on it. Her eyes were filled with tears and fear as she looked down at him. Shirou attempted to soothe her, yet he could only manage a gurgle as more blood continued to spew out of him.

She covered her mouth as she saw the gore, her pale flesh stained with blood thanks to his own injuries.

He wanted to move…

He wanted to clean the mess she was making on her cloths and face with his blood…

He wanted to dry her tears…

But his body just wouldn't move…

"You were just in the very, very wrong place at the wrong time." A distorted voice called out. Shirou's shaky eyes moved towards the murderer and he went rigid.

The assassin looked down at him and continued, his voice inhuman and dispassionate, yet oddly soft and curious. "It's sad…you were just trying to be a good brother weren't you…but, this was just a bad situation for the both of you. To quote Hegel, 'Mere goodness can achieve little against the power of nature' and you… you just went against the worse type of current."

And with that, he pointed his gun towards the near catatonic Illya.

Shirou's eyes went wide in fear and desperation—even though his vision was slowly fading.

His defenseless and innocent sister was about to die...

Her life would be snuffed out…

Her entire life, would come to an end…

All because he wasn't strong enough to save her.

 **"Will you let her die?"**

A voice from deep within called out. His fading vision snapped to attention as everything went dark except for the crying and fearful Illya and the murderer who was about to kill her.

 **"Is that all you can accomplish? Have you decided to forsake the promise you made long ago for that same girl who cries for you now? Will you let yourself sink and make her suffer for your own weakness!? Will you become a failure of a man for being incapable of stopping her tears and her death!? Will just lay down here and die as a failure!?"**

Shirou didn't understand what was going… he didn't know who was talking to him…

And yet…

This voice asked him something that he found himself incapable of not answering.

"…n…o…" His voice was weak… drowned out by his own blood…

 ** _And yet…_**

There was power in his refusal to simply die.

 **"Indeed, for there is no other path but the one of struggle and sacrifice. I am thou, thou art I… from this moment on, never forget this moment and strive in conflict, so that you may never fail her."**

"Farewe—!" The black mask's words were halted as an explosion of raw power ripped through the air in front of him. The assassin jumped back, skidding on his feet and falling onto a knee in shock as he saw the torrent of blue fire illuminate the dark room they were in. His eyes went wide.

Shirou stood, straight and determined as he carried the catatonic Illya in his arms—and his face was obscured by the bindings of red cloth. Covering most of his upper face, including his eyes and some of his hair…the redhead with his free left hand went for it—

The black mask assassin gasped in surprise as he saw red flash occurred over the back of his hand…and a mark appeared on it. "Impossible… that's a—!"

Shirou didn't hear him as he harshly pulled the red cloth surrounding his head.

The grotesque sound of skin being ripped off was horrible for his ears—and yet he did not care.

If it meant saving Illya from this horrible nightmare…

Then he would gladly take all the pain of the world.

Everything disappeared as his vision went white with power…

The black masked assassin…

The bizarre world…

His own blood on the floor…

It all went away as he roared—

"■■■■■■■■■!"

A name rang out…

So loud…

Reaching the ears of everyone except his own…

Power beyond his comprehension was being used…

Fire and metal filled the bizarre world…

He swung his free arm and weapons appeared…

Swords…

Swords…

And even more swords…

An unlimited number of them filled the confined space due to his pure determination…

To protect his little sister…

He would render it all to sunder…

...

...

...

 _ **"The destination has been deleted. Returning to the real world. Congratulations."**_

* * *

 **Story Beta: Crossovernaru**

* * *

 **Author's Note  
**

 **Hello there! And welcome to the rewrite of Heart's Oath, now renamed Oath in our Hearts. I hope you enjoyed the prologue for this story and that I managed to intrigue you to find out how this turns out in the future. Other chapters will be released during August, so stay tune.**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Until next time! Adios!**


	2. My Rattling Chains

**_Arc 1: Welcome to Shibuya_**

 _4/7 Thursday, Midday_

"We have arrived at our destination Shibuya Station. Please disembark the train with caution and patience. Make sure you check your seats for any an all belongings."

Shirou Emiya moved alongside the sea of people, their faces barely registering as he moved with the hoard. The redhead tightened his hold over his school bag as he walked through the train station, letting his golden brown eyes wander around the new and unknown territory. He stretched out his shoulders, uncomfortable with the new school uniform. He found the clothing too stiff.

An annoyed sound escaped him as a wave of irritation welled up from his left forearm. He quickly made way to break from the hoard and went to a corner near the exit of the station with a grimace. He pulled the left sleeve of his new school uniform back and the bandages covering his skin to scratch at the surgical-like scar. He glared at the ugly thing marring his skin.

 _'I know scars are considered cool and all, but this isn't what people expect them to look like...'_ He groaned as he began to scratch himself and stifled the itch away. The skin was mismatched pale and mangled encircled by his normal complexion.

"Shouldn't you be hiding that scar?"

Shirou nearly jumped out of skin. He whirled around to see a Caucasian woman. Her face was smooth and beautiful. He thought that if she were a normal human, she'd be one of the models that Shinji liked to fantasize about. The way she held herself, however, said otherwise. She wore a black suit . Over her shoulder was a thick white coat with a high collar, it gave her an air of intimidation. He looked down to see that she was still gripping onto her long metal suitcase, its dimensions allowed for it to carry a sword. Her European features made her stand out among the sea of Asians around the station, especially with her long caramel colored hair held tightly in a ponytail, allowing an unobstructed view of her fierce gaze.

The redhead gritted his teeth at those eyes, he looked away with a subdue fire in his eyes.

"Are you uh…Forte-san…no… I mean…uh…Miss Forte?"

"Yes." She confirmed, her tone said she pleased at being referred as Miss and not with Japanese honorific, however her face remained emotionless The redhead had been warned about this, so he bit his cheeks to stop himself from letting a snide remark escape him. The woman ignored his struggles and turned around, motioning for him to follow. "Starting today, I shall be your handler for the...Clock Tower. Until our objective is completed, you and I shall be working together."

Forte turned and walked off into the crowd. Shirou had no choice but to follow. Or else suffer the consequences. He was her meek shadow, and allowed her to lead him through the train station. For a few moments he bit his cheek, to keep himself from saying something she would disapprove of. He had learned how his snide remarks weren't amusing with other mages, it wouldn't be any different with her.

Shirou rubbed at the scar again and chose his words carefully. "Where are we going?"

"First we'll be going to your new school. The Association has already taken care of the official paperwork. All that's left is for you to introduce yourself to the school." The Magus kept her brisk pace, leading Shirou through the crowd. Her case had already gotten some attention. Nothing more than curious glances. He knew from experience that curiosity was dangerous.

Shirou looked down at the ground, keeping pace. He rubbed at his scar again, tugging at his uniform's sleeve as he did. "I never thought the As—I mean, the Clock Tower would care about me going to school."

"They don't. I felt that this would help us keep our cover. We don't want anyone asking questions, someone your age not in school might cause people to ask questions. Besides, you'll get in my way when I have my own assignment. I work better alone." The woman looked back at him, her fierce look stopping him in his tracks as she glared at his left arm. Her cold eyes stopped him in his tracks. "If you keep scratching at your arm people will see your scars." Those eyes promised him nothing but pain. "Stop scratching."

The harsh rebuke made the redhead cringe and nod silently. "Sorry." He did as instructed.

His handler shook her head and glared and looking down at him. To her he was less than nothing. "Honestly, as much as I detest working with hired guns like your father …at the very least he was a professional and didn't draw any attention to himself. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with you and unfortunately we don't have much of a choice on that. So try and be more competent—remember what's at stake, boy."

Shirou clenched his fist tightly, teeth clenched in fury while his eyes burned with rebellion within. He was ready to snap back at the woman with a sarcastic reply, which was something that he had become rather good at since _then_.

But…

He buried it deep inside.

His frustrations…

His need to fight…

His rebellion…

And just accepted the situation for what it was.

"…I understand."

As they walked out of the station, Shirou heard the sound of chains rattling in the distance as a nearby store opened. The rattling echoed and followed his footsteps in twisted irony.

.

.

.

.

* * *

 _4/7 Thursday, Afterschool_

Shunjin Academy was rather small when compared to Homuhara Academy—was the first thing that had come to mind as he saw the school building. Entering the school and being directed straight to the principal's office was a big relief after the fiasco that was the labyrinth like train station of Shibuya. Trying to board the train that would let him and his handler come here was a pain, made all the worse by the dampening mood of Forte and her soft murmurs of profanity towards eastern designs.

The walk towards the principal's office was uneventful. Although, seeing the principal proper, was not. He was so wide and round that he looked more like an egg than a man, just like one of those game villains Illya played. He kept his face composed, even though he felt the sides of his mouth quirk up slightly at the thought of his sister and, by consequence, the rest of his family.

 _'I'll make sure to keep you all safe.'_

"Welcome, welcome Forte-san, Emiya-kun. I am principal Kobayakawa." The principal introduced himself with a smile and gestured with big and meaty fingers towards the strict teacher beside his desk. He had beads of sweat running down his plump face. "This is Ushimaru-sensei, he will be your homeroom teacher during your stay at our school this year."

After introductions were finished quickly, Shirou pretty much blocked out the rest of the conversation. It was mostly about his responsibilities and how prestigious the school was. He didn't care and he let his eyes wander towards his handler to see if she was going to insult the principal, especially since he seemed out of breath after every word. Her composure and attentiveness to the conversation surprised Shirou. He thought she didn't care about any of his schooling.

 _'Aren't magus like her supposed to be uninterested with stuff like this?'_

A few minutes of discussion passed and Ushimaru walked forward with a stern face. The man looked at him and held a card between his fingers. "Emiya, here's your Student ID card."

"H-Huh…?" Shirou snapped out of his train of thought and quickly moved towards the man. He reached for the card with his bandaged hand. "Okay…"

"Humph, just don't be late to my class Emiya." The teacher grunted, his mouth twisting almost into a sneer as he glared at the bandage. "What happened to your hand boy?"

"Huh?" Shirou looked down at the bandaged hand, bit his lip—unpleasant memories filtering in. The teacher raised an eyebrow at his lack of response, he opened his mouth to say something—

"It was a clumsy mistake by young Emiya-kun. He burned his hand while cooking dinner last night." Forte responded and made everyone look towards the cold woman with some surprise. This was the first time she said something more than either a few hums or small two-to-three syllables responses.

The principal shot the redhead a sympathetic look. "Ah, that must have hurt. Make sure you tell Kamoshida-kun, so he doesn't push you so hard in gym class until you recover. He's a very understanding man. He won't mind.."

With that the meeting came to an end as they left the principal's office. Many students stopped and looked at the two of them muttering and pointing. Forte ignored them and opted to look at Shirou instead.

"Why were you staring at me during the meeting, Emiya?"

"Huh…" Caught off guard again by her question, he scratched his cheek in embarrassment at being caught. "Well I just didn't think you would care about all the rules and things that have to do with the school, that's all."

They neared the stairs and she looked away from him. "I don't. All of this is trivial to me, but knowing the rules and customs of my surroundings is important to the success of my mission. Ignoring this information could create problems for me if something were to occur on your watch. After all, you said yourself that you were barely paying any attention to what your principal and homeroom teacher were telling you on this school's etiquette."

"I-I…I was paying some attention…"

"No you weren't. Your homeroom teacher asked you what was wrong with your hand and you failed to come up with a proper excuse." They were now walking down the stairs and she let her piercing eyes settle on his face. "As such, I had to make one up for you and now you look like a fool. Not just a fool but you made yourself out to be weak as well." Her soulless eyes were digging into him. "That makes you a liability to my mission."

"…" He just looked away as they reached the first floor of the school. Forte sighed as continued on.

"The mission requires you to be attentive and professional. I hope that this foolish facade of yours is only limited to when you are here, because when I ask for your 'help' on other matters…" She glared at him, like a lion as it goes for its kill. "I expect more than a hundred percent out of you, child."

"…" Shirou met her gaze evenly, as he felt a fire burn brightly inside him—until it wilted and faded away, making him look away. Her suit's pocket buzzed and with her free hand she pulled a flip phone out. She looked at the screen then at him.

"Stay here, I have to answer this call." With her order given she walked away and outside of the school, standing by a corner as she began to talk to her phone. Shirou's eyes were narrowed, his frustrations piling even more due to Forte's words—but…

 _'This is all for you…this is all for you…'_

He took a deep breath, stepping back to balance himself and—

"Gah!"

"Uah!" The feminine cry and the feel of a female body crashing against his back made Shirou whirl around in surprise. He saw a girl taking a few steps back, her hands filled with stacks of papers—some of which had just fallen to the floor.

"H-Hey! I'm sorry, let me help!" He called out, though he was already on his knees grabbing each paper and stacking them together.

"W-Wait that isn't nece—!" The girl started, but stopped as Shirou got back to his feet with the stacks of papers in hand.

"Here you go." He gave her the fallen sheets of papers, which she accepted with some stunned surprise. He blinked as he took in the features of the girl. Her dark hair was pulled into a loose ponytail, and she had dark brown eyes and a gentle face. The girl held the stack of papers against her school uniform, which he noticed had been slightly altered to make it look more athletic. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there."

"H-Huh!?" The girl looked at him with wide eyes, before looking down with a guilty expression. "I'm sorry…I just got in the way…please forgive my clumsiness…"

Shirou tilted his head in disbelief and shook his head. "Hey it was my fault, not yours. So don't feel bad okay, I'm the one who needs to watch out where he's going."

The girl opened her mouth to say something, then stopped as she took a look at him, noticing his uniform. "I…I haven't seen you before…are you new here?"

"Mmhmm," Shirou nodded and offered a smile. "I just transferred to the school today."

"Ah…" The girl looked at his numbered pin on his uniform and her eyes looked back at his eyes. "You're in the same year as me then…!"

Shirou looked down at the pin and nodded. "Yeah…these uniforms ar—!"

"Suzui-san! There you are!" A boisterous voice called out and caught the redhead off guard. He turned to look behind the stiffened girl and saw a very tall, lean and muscular man walking towards them. His curly hair bounced with each step he took as his strong and square jaw tightened slightly as he looked down at him. "Hmm, I don't recognize you young man? You're new here?"

Shirou blinked at the casual way the man spoke, as he looked at his white t-shirt and sports pants. From his choice of attire, he deduced this man to be the school's gym teacher. "Uh yeah…"

"Ah! Then welcome to Shujin Academy!" The man said with a grin as he placed a large hand on Suzui's shoulder. For the first time, Shirou noted how her body went stiff and the way her eyes went wide at his touch. The man pulled the girl away as he was walking away. "I would like to stand around and tell you all the great things that this school has to offer, but I have a busy schedule. Isn't that right Suzui-san?"

"…R-right…Kamoshida-sensei…" Suzui's uncomfortable response and look made the redhead's eyes narrow in suspicion. The teacher, Kamoshida gave a large grin and began to push the girl away. As they turned the corner and disappeared, Shirou saw her eyes dart towards his before they disappeared.

 _'Those eyes…'_

Something heavy and hot set in his stomach as he thought of the girl. He wondered why the girl would look like that…was the girl just that sensitive? Or was the tea—

"Emiya."

He winced at the sound of Forte's voice. Schooling his features, he turned towards his handler. The woman looked at him with those fierce eyes of hers and once more found himself looking away from them. "Yes?"

"Come, let's go." With that said, the woman turned and walked away, doing so with the expectation that he would simply follow like a dog would to its master…

And he did…

The bitter taste in his mouth made him want to vomit his insides out.

.

.

.

.

* * *

 _4/7 Thursday, Evening_

"This is the apartment we will be staying in."

Shirou looked around, seeing the rather barren place; devoid of any décor or life; a simple white sofa and a small coffee table for the living room; a fridge, sink, stove and cabinets for the kitchen. A hallway that led to three doors, on the left was the door that lead to the bathroom and to the right was the room that would be his.

The last room's door gave an ominous feeling that screamed at him to stay back.

"You cannot enter that place. I believe you have been briefed on a magus' workshop?"

"Yeah…" Kiritsigu had mentioned to him the ethics behind a workshop. He kept his own in a room he hadn't even though existed in their home.

"Then there's no need to explain that if you enter into that room, you will die. Am I correct?"

"Yeah…"

"Good, now strip."

Shriou did a double take and gave the woman with a bewildered look. "W-What!?"

"Strip." Forte said seriously, ignoring his embarrassed look and blush. "I don't see why you would be reacting so strongly to this. You have already been seen naked by the mages who were in Fuyuki that experimented and diagnosed your body for irregularities. There's no need for any shame at this point."

At that, his humiliation disappeared—leaving only an empty and cold pit within. Sometimes he could still feel that cold table and the men who had ripped his body apart. A cold shiver went up his spine, inspiring a dormant fury at the thought of that very same experience nearly befell to Illya.

Shirou gritted his teeth and glared at the floor, burying his emotions deep down but the memories were still there. He exhaled through his nostrils and began taking off his school uniform, one piece at a time. Once he was done, he folded the clothes neatly and placed them on the sofa. Completely naked, he turned towards Forte and stared right into her eyes.

The woman crossed her arms and closed the distance between them—at this he looked away as he grew hot. The woman bent to be on his level and sweat began dripping down his forehead and he could not help but gulp as her eyes traveled all over his body.

As much as he disliked her, Shirou could not deny that Forte was beautiful. Her exotic European features were hard to ignore…especially when she was standing so close and examining him so attentively. He was a growing young man…and having a woman so close to him while he was naked was too much.

Forte ignored his troubles and placed a hand on his chest. With red cheeks he looked down at her slender fingers and grew cold—

A bullet wound scarred his chest. A reminder on how close he had danced with death.

"It is hard to fathom that the enemy of the Clock Tower, the Black Mask Assassin, would be using something as rudimentary as gun. The amount of grief he's caused us in an insult. So much trouble with such a mundane tool." She looked at his golden brown eyes and noted his cool gaze. She took her hand off his chest and stepped back. "You were lucky to have been found by the security detail of the late Marisbury Animusphere but then again, appearing out of thin air like you did before them was caution enough for them not to kill you on sight."

"…" Shirou only looked away at that. Even though he didn't remember being found or how his lethal injuries were healed. When he had woken up, he was more worried about Illya's safety. His life and well-being did not even register in his mind at the time. On the one hand, he could safely say that he was glad to be alive but things had a way of changing.

"Though I bet you wish they had killed you, don't you?" Forte continued as she looked down at him, then knelt down in front of him and reached for his bandaged arm. It frightened Shirou to how easy it was for her to read his mind. She started to untie the bindings until they revealed his scarred arm and what was burned into his flesh. "You are a Seal Designated target.. For someone like you, receiving such an honor must be horrible."

"You talk like you know me." Shirou had unintentionally let that remark slip out. The magus looked at him, a little surprised at his backbone. Her expression cooled as she ripped the bandages off and took a hold of his left hand and examined it closer.

"You're right, I shouldn't assume to know you. After all I was expecting a boy with no will of his own for this mission, a child with a fractured mind and focused on the task at hand. Still, here we are. A boy with his free will still intact. A boy who is very precious to my faction. All of this because of the 'Distorted Marker' that popped onto your hand."

Shirou looked down at her with steely eyes, but after a few moments he let his eyes wonder down to the back of his left hand. There he saw the mark that had appeared that day.

The day he had awaken to that cursed power and lead the Clock Tower to claw apart the peaceful life he had with his family.

A marker in the shape of a star shaped eye. The mages at the Association explained to him that it was similar to something called a Command Spell. Similar to the magical mark used for the Holy Grail War, it was divided into three parts. The star was one, then follow by the iris, and finally by the shape of the eye itself. It was abnormal, not just because of its appearance and the fact that a random tattoo was etched onto his skin. The mark was an abnormality. At first it was believed to be a Command Spell, the mages believing that a new Holy Grail War had commenced—but it was revealed not to be the case.

So it couldn't be a Command Spell, since for a Command Spell to appear, there would have to be a Holy Grail War.

And from what he had heard behind his cell-door, his mom and dad had dismantled the Grail years ago. So the war wouldn't be happening any time soon.

But there was something even more bizarre about this Command Spell, something which made it deviate from the norm and made it truly special. So, in other words, it was incorrect to even call it a Command Spell as its function and priorities were different from the typical Command Spell.

The Association then labeled it as the Distorted Marker—a mark that was capable of marking distortions in the world and entering them.

It was this what had granted him the glory of having a Sealing Designation. His father's words, were that it was a pain in the ass.

"If you want that thing for yourself," Shirou started as he glared at the mark on his hand with a cool gaze. "I would be more than happy to give it to you and have my memories wiped. Then me and my family wouldn't have to deal with you people."

Forte looked at him, then she let her hand travel down to the scarred flesh on his arm. She rubbed it in thought. "I agree with you, but is quite unfortunate that this thing is attached to you—and only you. My faction came to that Fuyuki city after the demise of Lord Animusphere, a sad parting. I will miss the man's endless ramblings. He really did like to hear the sound of his own voice."

Shirou remained silent as Forte continued, his eyes trained on the floor.

"Fortunately Assistant Director Archaman took control of the situation and had the good will to hold you and your sister captive. It was quite fortunate for us that my factio—the Association managed to come to the conclusion that taking the Marker from you was a bad idea before your father could disrupt the operation."

Instinctively Shirou's hand went for the scarred tissue and gripped with a grimace. "My dad-" He tried but the Enforcer cut him off and she placed her hand on his chest again, none too gentle.

"I will admit that I had underestimated him, as well as your mother. None of us expected a mercenary with his reputation to be capable of negotiating. Your mother's violent tendencies were just as surprising. Your lucky your father managed to calm her down. The Association wouldn't tolerate any more casualties from that Homunculus.

"Don't call her that!"

Forte tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. "Why? That's what she is. That's what more than half of your family is in fact. Or is that you wish to return to how things were? Impossible. Your father's negotiations skills, while impressive, were not good enough to let you be completely free, now were they? After all, he decided to lock you in a Geis contract of all things."

"Only because you didn't give him a choice!" Shirou grounded out as the woman scoffed as she looked into his eyes.

"It was the best choice that man had, it was either the Geis or complete annihilation." With that the woman chanted something and soon found markings appearing on his torso, stretching all the way to his back.

"This spell that will allow me to know where you are at all times. I can't risk you running off now, can I?." Forte explained before she pulled her hand back and looked at him squarely in his face. "Your father could've let us destroy your mind and get rid of all semblance of humanity within you and simply have you be our special weapon against the Black Mask Assassin. By the end of it all, we would've even installed a personality similar to the old one…though I really shouldn't be saying this. You belong to us. You are the property and the tool we need to ensure order. Giving you false hope for normality is unnecessarily cruel. You will never have that again. It's best to accept it now. The sooner you do, the sooner we can complete our mission, and the sooner you can see your family can live happily again—though, with a lesser member in their mixed."

Seeing the way she talked, knowing how the Association's mages were, it made Shirou angry "It doesn't matter."

"Oh?"

"It doesn't matter in the end what happens to me. As long as I can help you people solve this case, then you'll let my family live in peace, right?" He asked with as much conviction as he could possibly muster. Even if he couldn't fight against this woman—or against the entirety of the Association-if he could keep his family safe, then that would be good enough for him.

"Your father is a wanted man within the Association thanks to all his crimes. So many lineages were destroyed because of him, lineages that could have been salvaged. like what he did to the Archibald family's magic crest only ten years ago. The same for your mother, sister and those homunculus you consider maids my faction would greatly benefit from the dealings with the Einzbern family should we negotiate the return of their property."

"Don't call them that!" Shirou glared in annoyance at the woman who flicked her wrist dismissively. "They don't belong to anyone. They're people."

Forte ignored this outburst and continued. "But, should you accomplish the tasks that have been submitted in the Geis made between yourself and the ones in charged of your diagnoses and this mission—stopping the aforementioned Mental Shutdown and Psychotic Breakdowns cases that have been plaguing the Clock Tower for the last two years and it's prestige members, then your family will be spared from the Clock Tower's politics and judgement. My people shall leave Fuyuki and your family will be left alone. Of course, you will be forced to stay within the Tower itself for experimentation on how to enter the Distorted Labyrinth. Like I said, you belong to the Association."

The redhead lowered his head. He knew he was trapped. His family would be free but he could do nothing. Nothing at all. But that was fine—as long as they were okay, then everything would be fine.

So, he nodded his head in submission.

"Good. That Marker is the key we have to enter into the Distorted World. For whatever reason, that mark is capable of connecting into another world." She started, humming in thought as she looked at the mark with curiosity. A phenomenon closer to True Magic…it almost reminds me of the cases that had spread throughout Japan in the past. The midnight rumors or the strange fogs murders. Hmm, it's unfortunate that a weapon such as this ended up in the hands of an incompetent child. If you learn anything, learn this. You will pretend to be normal and attend school. You will do nothing to attract attention to you or myself. You will not discuss anything of what we are involved in with anyone. You will not interfere in my own investigation but most importantly, you will be entering the Distorted Labyrinth on my orders and my orders only. Is that understood?"

"Yes." Shirou answered plainly as he looked at the woman's eyes with some bite. Forte ignored it as she regarded him coolly.

"From the top, how does the Distorted Marker function?"

He nodded and raised his left hand. "In order to fully have this thing be completely operational, I need to activate my magical circuits and flood the Marker with magical energy. After that, all I need is a name, a place and a distortion…"

"Those are for Distorted Marbles, not the Labyrinths." Forte sounded annoyed and the redhead obeyed. Though, he bit the inside of his cheek and fortunately stopped himself from snarking back at the woman.

"The Distorted Labyrinth is access by locating the entry point in the city, activating my magical circuits and force open a door that leads us into the Distorted World."

"Good." Forte walked around him and headed for the door. Shirou blinked, he didn't expect her to be leaving so soon.

"You're leaving?"

"You don't need to know what I'm doing, is that understood?"

Shirou bit his tongue.

"All you need to know is that you need to remain here and prepare for your first day of classes. You are not allowed to leave. You are not allowed to call anyone. If you do, I will know. If you try to leave, I will know. If you try to contact your family, I will know. If you break these rules, I will make sure you remember them." Her blue eyes extinguished the final flames within his. "Any violation of these rules, it will be your family that suffers the consequences. Do remember that they aren't free, despite the fact they are still in Fuyuki. Am I understood?"

Shirou bit the inside of his cheeks, the metallic taste of blood hitting his taste bud as his frustration kept piling up. "I understand."

"Good" She finally turned away from him. "And stay away from my Workshop."

With that she opened the door and disappeared out, locking the door behind him. Shirou looks away, and stares at the hand holding onto his Distorted Marker. He clenches his hand into a tight fist and lets out a breath. He gathered his clothing and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

After a few minutes of letting the water washed away today's stress and filth off him as he blankly stared at the shower wall. After freshening up, he to his bedroom, opened the door and with steel like eyes as he gazed over the contents of the room. Much like the rest of the apartment it was bare, with only the essentials being present. A bed, a counter and a closet with a window by the side. Shirou walked towards the bed and let himself drop down on it. He stared at the ceiling with tired eyes as distinct voices started to fill his head.

 _…you are our secret weapon boy, our means to end this madness and reach power…_

 _…the choice on whether you want to help us or not, it doesn't exist—you only have one route in this matter…_

 _…if you wish to cause trouble then remember—your family is expandable. They are only alive as long as you can work with us…_

 _…even the ruthless Mage Killer understands that it is pointless to rebel, so I trust you are smart enough to do as you are told…_

 _…this boy, is kindness. You will have your will and your family will be safe and sound once you are done—you should treasure this moment boy…_

 _...as agreed by the Geis contract by us and yourself, you are bound to bring to an end the cases known as the Mental Shutdown and Psychotic Breakdown cases. You are to obey all and every order given to you by a magus affiliated with us and to bring this case to a close. You are not to harm any magus in charge of your mission. And most importantly, you are to see this through to the end..._

 _…it is all for the greater good, after all…_

Shirou scoffed at that as he remembered the Black Mask Assassin.

 _…'Mere goodness can achieve little against the power of nature' and you…you just went against the worse type of current…'_

"I can't help but get myself into more trouble," He muttered and raised his left hand up, staring at his Marker with a cool gaze.

He let his arm drop and closed his eyes, letting sleep conquer him.

* * *

 **Story Beta by Crossovernaru & Nikon Asturias**

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **Hey everybody and thank you all for reading the chapter. I was and still am surprise by the amount of attention this story received, I was kinda of expecting this to be shot in the dark and be completely missed. So I can safely say that I'm quite happy and glad for the attention and support.**

 **So thanks, I hope you enjoy. Until next time!  
**

 **Adios.**


	3. Helping Someone Isn't Wrong

_**Arc 1: Welcome to Shibuya**_

 _4/8 Friday, Morning_

Shirou arrived to Shujin Academy without much trouble nor much enthusiasms.

Back in Fuyuki, whenever he arrived at Homurahara Academy, there was always a feeling of comfort or warmth. Surrounded by friends, helping students in need, making his parents proud—and of course, always being closed to Illya for whenever she needed help. But as he looked up at Shujin Academy's building wall, their grey, cold and detach color made him aware that those past feelings were gone.

The school lived up more to it's namesake now that he thought about it.

 _'Prison Academy...I wonder if there's something out there that finds my situation amusing.'_

He stopped at the steps of the school, frowning as he went deep in thought. He was so far from Illya that it was sickening. His sister was living a lie, thinking that he had been transferred to another school to further push his studies forward. Her happy and bright smile was a source of comfort when he was usher out of the Emiya Household.

His eyebrows furrowed, looking at the Academy he would be attending for the time being. With a deep sigh, he entered into the building. He walked forward without much commitment to his steps, keeping a neutral expression as he went towards his classroom. He was barely even registering his surroundings as he pulled out his student ID Card and saw the number for his classroom. His ears picked up the the student body chattering among themselves, talking about the volleyball team or the teacher Kamoshida.

He ignored it, not really caring or finding any of the information useful. He frowned at the thought, finding that way of thinking to be somewhat similar to the mages that had been keeping an eye on him. He put away the card and continued on, accepting everything for what it was—there was a clear reason for why he would be here. It was best not to waste time getting too attached.

He had more important things in mind to worry about…

 _…Shirou, be careful. We'll find a way to fix things…_

 _…my poor baby! I'm so sorry…so sorry that we failed to protect you from all of this…_

 _…young man…I mean…Shirou, I've always told you…to be there to protect Illya…so now I will say to you to keep yourself safe. After all, as Lady Illya's older brother…you have to come back to her…_

 _…we'll keep Illya out of trouble. You do the same…_

 _…Onii-chan! Remember to text me okay! I really wanna know how Shibuya is…_

He bowed his head and frowned. _'I can't even text Illya without fear of endangering them...'  
_

He went up the steps and started to look for the number designating his classroom. He stopped as he spotted the door.

"Class 2-E…yeah, this is it." He muttered to himself as he entered the classroom. Inside he saw that it was full of students murmuring amongst themselves. They stopped when they noticed his arrival. Ushimaru took notice of him and looked at him with his severe expression.

"On time Emiya. Good, seems you won't be a troublemaker." Ushimaru then gestured for him to stand in front of the class. The young man obeyed the gesture. "Now introduce yourself to the class."

The class looked at him with bored expression. Keeping his expression level, he gave an unenthusiastic bow to his fellow classmates. "I am Emiya Shirou, please take care of me."

Silence was his only response for a few seconds. Then a groan came, followed by whispers about how boring he was or commenting about the color of his hair. The redhead righted himself and looked around, not really finding the barbs thrown his way that discomforting.

Behind him he heard Ushimaru hum. "Go to the empty seat in the middle of the class Emiya."

Shirou turned to look where he was assigned to and saw two empty seats, the one his teacher had ordered him to take and another one to the right seat ahead of where he was. The redhead nodded, walked towards his seat, and sat down. He took out his books and got ready for his first day at his new school.

A few minutes passed as the bell rang, signalling the start of classes.

"Okay, then let us start the clas—!" Ushimaru started, but was interrupted when the classroom's door slid opened and a young man with blond hair, a yellow shirt with a 'ZOMG' sign beneath his school blazer strolled in with a frown on his face. "Sakamoto-san, still not getting rid of that bad habit of yours? Always need to come in and interrupt me mid-sentence?"

'Sakamoto…' Shirou thought as he looked at the only young man who stood out in the classroom. The blonde looked down with a tight expression and lightly kicked off dust from the ground.

Sakamoto sniffed. "Sorry."

"Take your seat, I don't want to deal with you!" The teacher waved him off and turned his back towards the student as he went to work on the blackboard. Sakamoto ducked his head and took his seat, resting his head on his hand as he slouched forward.

Shirou looked away from him and instead focused on the class for now. He looked down at his bandaged hand, tightening his grip as he glared at it before he took a deep breath and looked away. Clearing his mind, he began taking notes.

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* * *

 _4/8 Friday Lunchtime_

Coming out of the classroom, Shirou stretched. He felt his stomach rumble a little from hunger. He placed a hand on it and frowned.

"I think I should head to the cafeteria and get some food…"

He made to move towards the stairs, but something at the end of the hall caught his attention. A woman dressed in a yellow long sleeved shirt and a jean skirt was struggling to carry a huge stack of books in her arms. The woman's face was one of pure concentration and exhaustion as she tried to carry the books in her arms. Then without warning, a student bumped into her and causing her to drop everything in her arms.

The woman's let out a strangled cry as the student ran away before the woman could even look at her. Most of the students skirted around her and didn't offer any help. The woman looked at the fallen books with despair as she knelt down to pick them up. As Shirou watched her, he hadn't realized that he was already moving forward to help her.

Because really…when has helping someone in need ever been wrong?

With that determine thought in mind, he went towards the woman and stopped right before.

"Um, miss?" The woman in yellow looked at him with tired and annoyed eyes as she regarded him. "Let me help you carry those books."

The way her eyes brightened up at his words, almost made him forget of all his troubles.

A couple of introductions and some heavy lifting later and the two were walking side by side.

"Thanks for the help Emiya-kun…I seriously wonder why more students can't be like you…" The tired sigh of the disheveled teacher, Kawakami rang through his ears as he carried a large stack of books. His arms strained a little under their weight, but the redhead didn't let a single sound of complain escape his lips as he walked alongside the teacher towards the club rooms located in the school's other building.

"It's no problem at all, Kawakami-sensei."

"Hmm…I just wish people had that type of good attitude when it comes to helping people out…" Kawakami sighed as she scratched her wild fluffy hair. "Seriously, how many of my own students brushed past me when I was struggling with those books and nearly made me lose my grip on them! Geez…why is it always me…?"

Shirou chanced a glance towards the suffering teacher, as he restrained a sigh. Despite the many complaints the teacher had been throwing around, he felt quite relaxed. It had been a long time since he had felt like this. Just being able to just walk or even breath without the constant surveillance of the Mage's Association looming over him.

And helping someone in need? That was something that always made him feel warm and grateful to have done.

It was an escape from the reality of his situation. The thought of that made him sour up slightly.

"Ah! And here we are!" Kawakami proclaimed with tired excitement as she opened the classroom that belong to one of the school's club activities. She gestured towards an empty desk. "Please put them there."

"Alright." He did just that, feeling the weight of the books leave his arms and the tightness in his muscles started to relax as he placed them on an empty desk. He turned towards the teacher who smiled graciously.

"Thanks, Emiya-kun. You're a pretty alright kid."

"It really was no problem."

The two stepped out of the classroom, the teacher turned towards him to respond—

"So, what you are saying is that you can't fix the air conditioner in my office?" A familiar voice asked with traces of disappointment, and hints of irritation present in his voice.

The duo turned to see Kamoshida crossing his arms with two students wearing the school's gym uniform right behind him. The man's attention was currently on the three students standing before him. One of the three students took the lead, a girl with brown hair and red eyes, and stared at the man squarely in the face and answered him without any sign of hesitation.

"Like I said, Kamoshida-sensei…the Student Council doesn't have anyone available with that kind of skill right now." The Student Council girl said as she tried to placate the teacher. "Have you tried speaking with the Faculty Office?"

"Tsk, I have, but they have told me to wait until tomorrow so that they can get someone to fix this."

Kawakami let out an understanding sigh as she watched the scene alongside Shirou. "I can totally relate with that…I've been stuck inside the Faculty Office with no cool air while doing paper work…it's such a pain…"

Shirou ignored the remark as his eyes focused on a second familiar face, behind Kamoshida—it was the girl he had bump into yesterday, Suzui. The girl had the same downtrodden expression, and looked uncomfortable just being there. The mere sight of that uncomfortable gaze made him narrow his eyes in curiosity.

Kamoshida scratched his head in frustration and looked back at the teenagers clad in the there gym outfits. "I'll suffocate inside that office if something isn't done with the air conditioner…I'll be all sweaty and uncomfortable…ugh, I just know this will leave me in a bad mood for the rest of the day…"

Suzui and the other student beside her flinched. Suzui looked down, her body trembling slightly. Even from the distance he stood, he saw it—

Those glassy eyes…

Something inside him made him walk towards them.

"H-Hey! What are you doing Emiya-kun?" Kawakami's alarmed voice called out from behind him.

Turning to look at her from the corner of his eyes he answered honestly. "I'm going to help."

Because those glassy eyes reminded him of Illya. Anytime she was sad and wanted to cry, those glassy eyes would always appear. Seeing them on Illya was unbearable, so he had made it his mission to always make them disappear. After all, as her older brother, it was his duty to keep her happy.

Seeing those eyes on a random person or someone he didn't know would irk him. There was no reason or anything special about it.

He just didn't like seeing people sad

So if he could do something to avert them, he would be more than happy to do it.

Shirou walked forward, leaving a dumbfounded Kawakami behind him. She scratched her head in confusion as she watched him leave. "Whoa…never thought I would see a kid be so altruistic…or is he just helping Kamoshida-san just to gain some favor from him?... Whatever…"

Shirou's sharp ears heard her as he closed the distance towards Kamoshida, but he didn't correct her.

There was no need as he reached his destination.

"I know how to fix the air conditioner."

His words were firm and unyielding, even as he stepped into the ongoing conversion uninvited and rudely—he didn't falter. Everyone stopped talking and looked at him, surprised by his sudden appearance. Suzui's eyes widened as she recognize him. The brown haired girl looked at him surprised, but something flickered in her gaze as she looked at him.

Kamoshida frowned, his eyebrows lowering in irritation at the interruption. He looked down at him, hands on his hips. "Huh… aren't you that kid from yesterday? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be eating lunch?"

Shirou's eyes remained focused on Suzui as he spoke. "I was helping a teacher with something and heard that you were in need of a handyman. If it's something like faulty equipment, then I can easily fix it."

The brown haired girl looked at him, her red eyes narrowing slightly as she regarded him. "It's rather surprising that a student would have such skill. Is this something that was taught to you back when you attended Homurahara Academy, Emiya Shirou?"

"Huh…" Shirou's focus was broken as he looked towards her. "N-No…I mostly learn how to do that stuff by myself, but… I'm sorry, but how do you know me?"

"I am the Student Council President, you may refer to me as Niijima-senpai if you will. It is my duty to know of every student and be attentive of their needs. That includes new transfer students like you."

"I see…" He responded, a little surprise by the girls overwhelming presence and confidence. It made him compare her to Issei, finding the girl before him more upfront.

"Hrmm…" Kamoshida rubbed his large chin, considering his options and wondering how he should go about things. He looked down at him, his eyes shone with a strange glint. "You say that you can handle this stuff Emiya-san? Because if you can, then it would be a large boon for your reputation. Seriously, having a student who can fix all faulty equipment would do great for our budget."

"I can do it." He stated firmly, his confidence and resoluteness returning to him.

Kamoshida nodded, straightening his posture and towering over him as if trying to intimidate him subtly with his physical prowess. "That's a lot of responsibility down on your shoulders kid, if you can't live up to it…people are going to think you're just a liar."

Despite all of this, Shirou's face remained in its neutral state as he heard Kamoshida. He wasn't intimidated nor moved by those words. He had already determine his path, so there was no need to regret his words. Though, his eyes narrowed slightly at the man's subtle threats.

"Are you sure you can do this Emiya-san?" Niijima's words made him looked towards her. "I would rather avoid having everyone's time here be wasted simply because you wanted to show off."

"Don't worry, it wont be a waste of time."

Niijima looked him straight in the eyes and then turned towards her fellow student council member. "Please bring the tool box here."

"Right away Niijima-san!" The student left in a hurry.

Kamoshida hummed at the apparent agreement. "Alright then. You, stay here." The teacher said as he pointed at the student beside Suzui sharply. The student looked up in surprise beneath his bandaged face.

"B-But…"

"While I know Emiya-san isn't going to do anything that could warrant trouble, I still need to keep some security around here." Kamoshida casually said, as if disregarding the student's discomfort. His eyes sharpened as leaned forward and looked intently at the nervous student. "And I'm placing my trust in you, got it?"

"…Understood."

Kamoshida's face was split into a large boyish grin on his face as he looked down at the redhead. "Alright then, kid. Good luck fixing that faulty air conditioner. If you actually manage to do it, I'll have to find some way to reward you."

"There's no need." Shirou answered honestly as he looked at the bewildered Suzui.

"Huh? Oh…okay." Kamoshida turned away from and walked away, muttering. "Weird kid…"

He heard the words, but didn't react to them. Instead he turned towards Niijima who walked towards him. She sighed as she looked at him.

"If you really have the skills you say you possess, then I wish you the best of luck. Having a student with handyman skills would be great as we wouldn't have to worry anymore about having to pay great sums of money for new equipment and such." Niijima looked at him with narrowed eyes as her tone took a more scolding approach. "But, I will say this. Don't sneak into such conversations like that again, it is quite rude. Especially if you simply wish to show off. Just don't repeat this stunt and keep yourself out of trouble."

"Understood Niijima-sempai." Shirou bowed respectfully at her.

The council student that had left returned with the tool box in hand. "Here's the tool box."

Shirou took it. "Thanks."

Niijima looked back at him as she turned. "When you're done, please return the tool box. The council room is located on the third floor, in the class building."

With that the council students all walked away. Shirou watched them go, before he turned back to see the nervous gym student go to stand by Kamoshida's office. Suzui moved towards him with a curious look shining through her downtrodden eyes.

"Why…would you do that?"

He blinked at her, tilting his head to the side. "Why would I do what?"

"Why offer your services like that? There really was no reason for you to get involved." She said, her eyes directly staring into his own. He only offered a small smile.

"I just wanted to help someone in need."

She looked at him in confusion. "What…? You wanted to help Kamoshida-sensei…just like that?"

"Hmm? Not Kamoshida." Shirou answered honestly as he looked straight at her. The girl looked even more confused.

"What do you…?"

"I wanted to help you. That's all." He explained as he knelt down to open the tool box and started to check for the equipment he would be using. "I saw that you were about to cry, and I decided to step in."

"I…I…" Suzui looked at him with wide eyes, and a small blush on her cheeks. "I wasn't about to…"

Shirou ignored her stammering as he stood up and smiled at her softly. "I hate seeing people cry, so I thought I wouldn't let you either."

Suzui swallowed at the honesty in his words and she looked away, her face red. "I…I see…"

"If that's all, it's best I get to it." Shirou walked around the girl and headed for the office, but he was stopped when he felt a soft hand on his forearm. He looked back and saw Suzui, looking at him with a smile.

"Thank you…thank you so much…"

Her words filled him with warmth as he nodded in return.

 _'Helping her wasn't a wrong decision…'_ He thought as the girl bowed before quickly walking away. As he watched her go, his smile turned into a frown. _'Yet…why would she respond like that…? It's twice now that I have seen her looking uncomfortable around that teacher, Kamoshida…'_

He turned towards the other student, who opened the office for him offering a small 'thank you' as well.

 _'And him as well…there's something not right here…'_ He entered the messy office and grabbed a ladder on the side before making his way towards the air conditioner. "But for now, let me focus on helping them the only way I can for now…"

As he touched the faulty equipment, he turned back to see if the student was still looking at him. Fortunately, he saw him looking to the other side, just staring at the ground.

He nodded in satisfaction and closed his eyes. He inhaled and—

"Trace—!" Shirou Emiya turned from an ordinary student into a mage in that instant—

The sound of the hammer of a gun cocking and firing resounded deep within as his magical circuits were turned—!

"On!"

And in that moment, Shirou Emiya the fledgling student bound by chains disappeared. In his place was Shirou Emiya the third-rate magus. It was something that had been explained to him and something that had been a tough pill to swallow.

 _...to be a magus, means to walk with death..._

With his eyes close, his magical energies extended from himself and towards the faulty equipment. As if he was seeing the model of the air conditioner in a a computer screen, he saw every nook and cranny, every hidden detail within the equipment. After identifying the source where the faulty equipment was damaged, he prepared to fix it.

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* * *

"Whoa…that's…" Kamoshida trailed off as he raised a hand to test the strength of the cool air. "It's even better than what it was before…the air is really cooling a lot…"

Shirou was cleaning his hands with a handkerchief as he looked at the satisfied teacher. He turned to look away when he saw one of the Council Students come and take the toolbox away from him. The student fixed his glasses and looked at him.

"That's pretty good Emiya-san…and under twenty minutes, that's very good." The council student praised with a small smile, Shirou just nodded in thanks. He turned back to Kamoshida who was grinning at him.

"Hmm, I'll admit that I'm a little surprised…I actually thought you were bluffing or something…" Kamoshida admitted without any shame. "But I guess this proves me wrong. Everyone should have a role to fill in this school and I guess this is yours. You got talent kid, people with skills like yours are needed out there in the real world."

"…thanks." The redhead turned away, ready to walk out. However, he was stopped when a large hand landed on his shoulder. He turned to look at the man behind him.

"Hey no need to feel so shy, I'm praising you here." The hand on his shoulder tightened enough for him to feel it as the teacher grinned somewhat forcefully. Shirou eyes narrowed slightly at the small show of hostility.

"I'm just a little hungry, sorry if I offended you." His words seemed to alleviate the teacher's annoyance as the man let him go.

"Oh sorry, sorry. I guess it would be best if you were on your way then. I would feel horrible to know you would go on with your school day hungry after the favor you did for me. Alright, go and enjoy your meal." Kamoshida patted him on the back and waved him off as Shirou walked off. He looked back as the man crossed his arms and looked at him. The student in the gym outfit shuffled off quickly, while the council student praised the teacher and walked away as well.

A snort to his right caught his attention, he looked up and saw Sakamoto there. The blond leaned against the walls of the hallway while his eyes were focused on him. He looked back to where Kamoshida's office was and then back to him. His classmate huffed, shook his head, and walked away.

Shirou blinked a couple of times at the display.

 _'What was that about…?'_ He wondered as he watched the blonde disappear into the crowd of students.

The redhead shook his head and felt the corner of his mouth tilt up a little. He felt satisfied…he had helped Suzui and for him, that was good enough. The girl wouldn't have to look troubled anymore. He turned and headed in the direction of the school's mess hall.

For once, he forgot about his troubles and helped someone in need.

Relief and warmth filled his heart, as the fire in his heart soar brightly.

* * *

 **Story Beta: Crossovernaru**

* * *

 **Author's Note  
**

 **Hello there! This chapter is more of transitory chapter as you may have noticed. A good way to slow down the story a little and show how despite everything Shirou is still holding strong. Next chapter should be moving things along.  
**

 **There's not much more to say but thanks for reading the story. I hope you enjoyed reading this.**

 **Until next time. Adios!**


	4. A Cry for Help

__**Arc 1: Welcome to Shibuya**__

 _4/10 Sunday, Morning_

The bright light of the morning sun was irritating for Shirou's red bloodshot eyes. A low grumble escaped his throat as he sent Forte a withering glare.

"So this is the entrance point for the Labyrinth?"

Sunday mornings were supposed to be a productive time, shopping for groceries for an empty fridge, resting after a long week of school work—or more importantly spend some time with Illya. Though, all of this was impossible, except for the former two options. But staying in the plain apartment alongside the suffocating presence of the magus was not an option he would've taken. So he thought that maybe he could distract himself by buying food for the nearly empty fridge.

But the magus had other plans unfortunately. His eyes narrowed as he glared at the first steps of the entrance for the subway train station of Shibuya. Shirou dressed in his clothing scratched the scar underneath his sleeve and looked at the magus.

"Indeed, I found it yesterday." Forte looked at him, her eyes sharps as she stared down at him. "Seeing as I believe this may be the entrance to the Labyrinth, I want you to go and take the both of us inside. I wish to map out the Labyrinth as we did with the one in Fuyuki."

The redhead's eyes wonder back towards the crowded streets, the civilians walking around and passing to close to them. He raised an eyebrow at that as he pointed at the crowd. "Won't they notice if I use the Marker here?"

Normal people like them were supposed to be unaware of the existence of magic and the supernatural, much like how he and Illya had been before that fateful day. If someone who wasn't supposed to know of magic caught wind of it, then the best possible outcome would've been for their memories of the event to be erased—as it was done with Illya.

Otherwise, the situation would've been handled with more lethal means.

"They won't." Forte assured him as she opened the claps of her suit case. He immediately noticed waves going through the air, quickly disappearing as it neared the crowd and making the people avert their eyes. "My element is wind, as such my magecraft is base around it. Using the Mystic Code inside this case allows me generate sound. So if I need prying eyes away from something that I need to do, a simple spell is more than enough to cause a sound which will avert people's attention. Do not worry about them, simply do as you are told."

Shirou nodded as he began preparations to enter the Labyrinth. Putting his left hand in front, he opened the palms of his hand, and closed his eyes as he began to focus.

"Trace—On!"

The self-hypnosis worked instantly, transforming Shirou Emiya into a magus. His magical circuits flared up as his od traveled all the way to the Marker in his hand, flashing red and burning his skin. He grit his teeth at the excruciating pain, but focused on his current objective and pushed past it. When he air started to shift uncomfortably, he understood that it was time to take his first steps to enter the Distorted World.

He felt a hand grasp his shoulder, but he paid no heed to it, already used to this being done in the past. The two descended the stairs, with each step the underground train station grew darker and darker until they took the final step.

A blackened, corrupted and eerie world greeted them.

Forte let go of his shoulder and walked beside him as he let his hand drop to his side. The magus looked around at the desolated and bizarre subway station, until her eyes landed on him.

"The Marker in your hand is a key, that allows for us to enter into a reality inaccessible to any other mage in record." Forte spoke out loud, her expression tight and focus at what she had witness. "At first, one of our contacts, an expert in the department of Bounded Field had thought that a place like this was just a deep, elaborate and intricate magecraft that allowed the Black Mask Assassin to come and sneak in kills toward unsuspecting targets. We were obviously wrong in this assessment, especially when you were found by the men in Marisbury employment…this is not just a simple bounded field, but much closer to a Reality Marble—no, even then it would be wrong to call the Distorted Labyrinth even that."

Shirou's eyebrows were furrowed at the words the magus had said, he clicked his tongue and looked away from her. "Another layer…"

Forte nodded as she began to walk further into the distorted subway station, reaching for another set of stairs. "Indeed, just like the layers that exist in the World. The World of Man, that which is govern by the laws of physics and science, is a layer at the top and ruled by Man. The Reverse Side of the World, that which is govern by the laws of the Age of the Gods, is layer beneath that of Man and ruled by Phantasmal Beasts or any other mystical creature. Yet, this Distorted Labyrinth seems to exist in a layer in between the two…govern by no distinctive era and ruled by what the Association has call Shades, aspects of Man that if destroyed will result in the death of someone in the real world—and the Phantasmal Shades—a name given to them for their attributes—for they are beings capable of taking the form of gods and demons for whatever reason…with the only thing capable of fighting against them effectively being—!"

"Me…" Shirou looked down at the Distorted Marker with little reaction. Forte leading on continued with no regard for him.

"Yes…the same can be applied to people with specific distortions. A Distorted Marble, while specialized to someone, it seems to act more like a Reality Marble than this entire mess we are about to face…thankfully we know what to expect of a Distorted Marble thanks to when we had you run through your father's Distorted Marble."

For a brief second, Shirou burned. His body lightened up in fire, shining bright like a sun in anger at the callous way these people had him invade his father's privacy.

For a brief second—a name howl in his mind.

"■■■■■■■■■!"

But it was swiped away in his inner turmoil as he remembered something crucial—

 _…Mere goodness can achieve little against the power of nature…_

And so, his fire fizzled out. He let out sighed at that, bowing his head and followed after the woman down the stairs. The two descended even further until they reached the bottom . Upon arriving they noticed railroad tracks going off deep into the bizarre world, branching off in different directions.

"That is why we will be mapping the Distorted Labyrinth for today, from what I have investigated—the population is bigger here and the center of where the Mental Shutdowns began…as such we must tackle this place head on." She turned towards him as she brought forth an open book with a bloodstain at the very edge of the paper. "The blood shall draw us an image as we move and flip the pages if needed. By the end of the day, we should have a fully realized map."

"…got i—!"

Shirou's words were interrupted as loud, lumbering footsteps marched towards them. He and Forte whirled around to see a shadow-like masked giant lumbering towards them. The 'eyes' of the mask were blue as it neared them. The female magus narrowed her eyes at the approaching enemy.

"A Phantasmal Shade…it has the same appearance as the ones in Fuyuki? I wonder…" The woman walked forward, closed the book and pocketed it in her suit. She opened her briefcase and brought out her weapon. She brandished forth a sword, three orifices were on the body of the blade making it impossible to be use for slashing. "Let's see if their strength are the same as the ones reported in Fuyuki—Aero Strike!"

Shirou's ears picked a sound, it was small enough to be undetectable—the air shifted as the sound travel at speeds beyond what the eyes of a normal human beings could pick up. A powerful wind spell had been unleashed, dangerous and strong enough that it can be considered a one hit kill if it hit an unsuspecting target. The impact was strong enough that it could crush an entire truck.

The wind spell hit the giant directly in the chest and it bounced off harmlessly—like a cool breeze during a morning stroll.

"What!?" Forte stared in shock as the designated Phantasm Shade grew closer. Her eyes narrowed as she gnaw her teeth and a cold sweat rolled down her face. She took a step back as the giant continued its advance—and Shirou stared at the enemy calmly, then his eyes flickered back to Forte.

The woman was defenseless—incapable of attacking the approaching monster and wouldn't have enough time to escape the moment that thing started to run.

 _'She could die…'_

A fire in him burned once again at the thought. His eyes sharpened—and time seemed to stop. If he hesitated, she would die. As he watched the Shade approach them, just a mere ten meters away, the woman would die if he hesitated for even a second the moment the Shade's blue eyes turned red.

If something like that were to happened, then—

 _'I could save my family…I could go to them…tell them that now that I have no one watching my every move…that we could go into hiding…'_

It was so selfish, so cowardly.

But all that mattered to him was the safety of his family.

Nothing more.

But—

 ** _"Are you that selfish?"_**

A voice vibrated within him, asking him from the deepest part of his heart—

 _'No.'_

Again the answer was simple.

As much as he would want to leave everything here and go straight to his family, he just couldn't. He wasn't selfish enough to let someone get killed right in front of him—but more importantly than that, he wasn't stupid. Just because Forte was gone, that didn't mean he had a clean shot to rescue his family from the endless reach of the Mage's Associations and their threats—

And above all else…

 _…onii-chan…_

 _…Illya covered her mouth as she saw the gore, her pale flesh stained with blood thanks to his own injuries, crying…_

 _…he laid on the floor bleeding out and dying, incapable of stopping the Black Mask Assassin from pointing his gun at his little sister…_

The memory of his sister's pain burn to hot for him to simply let go of the grudge he had been grooming.

Time began to flow normally.

And Shirou Emiya walked past Forte.

"I'll handle this…" He said as he continued to walk towards the giant, keeping his eyes focused on the blue eyes of its masks. He waited a single second for them to change—the Phantasm Shade's eyes went red and it lunged for him, intending to crush him with its massive fist.

He remained calm as it got within two meters of him—

"Trace—"

One meter away from him, it raised its arms, preparing to crush him with an overhead strike…

"ON!"

His magical circuits fired up, the hammer of the gun firing with more force and power than ever before as power coursed through his very being—

He felt all twenty-seven of his circuits activate, reaching deep within until they brushed against something deep within his psyche.

His eyes went wide—

His mouth opened—

"■■■■■■■■■!"

A soundless name escaped his lips, deaf to his ears as power exploded from within him against the towering enemy.

The Phantasm Shade was sent stumbling back, recoiling from the brightness and intensity of his power. The giant slammed a foot down on the tracks, causing them to crack under its massive as it was about to recover its footing—

 **Kizing! Snikt! Sash!**

Three slashes going beyond human perception shot past it. In the blink of an eye, the giant monster was cut into three pieces. Large chunks of the defeated Phantasmal Shade splattered onto the floor, disappearing into nothingness just as the pillar of power receded and revealed the victor of the confrontation—

Shirou Emiya stood straight, his stance firm and purposeful. His once casual attire was replaced by red, black and white. On his torso was a black and sleeveless piece of armor, adorned with white accents which outlined his muscles and a metal plate on his collar. Black trousers covered his legs, with straps held on his thighs and shins—metal plated boots rang loudly as he took a determined step forward. The trousers were held by a white sash tied into a neat ribbon—

Breaking the monotony of the black and white was the single red cloth on his left arm, adorned with black stripes on his shoulders and forearm. His right forearm was also wrapped in red bandages, stopping right at his wrist. Held by the white sash on his waist was an open red skirt that ended at his shins.

His hands were grasping a pair of twin swords—one black and the other white. Yin and yang, Kanshou and Bakuya—both hands were wrapped in black bandages.

Shirou blinked, his steely eyes tearing away from the destroyed enemy, towards the sound of crackling chains behind him. Within a great blue fire, a shadowy figure looked at him—judging him and nodding in begrudged approval with an audible scoff. The fire gave away and the shadowy figure disappeared as well. As this happened, his face briefly lit up with the same fire as his 'mask' was set on his face.

A red headband covered most of his face, including his eyes, effectively blindfolding him—yet he could see perfectly despite the obstruction.

Forte looked at him with her jaw slightly ajar. Her wide eyes narrowed quickly when Shirou turned towards and she began to look up and down at him. She nodded after a few second and walked towards him. "So this is your distorted form. I was expecting something more exaggerated out of you, but I can see that I was wrong…hmm, exactly as I was wrong with me thinking that your form was going to go away. Didn't you fail to transform the times the other mages were testing your abilities down in the Labyrinth?"

He turned away from her, his lips quirking down. "I… needed the right motivation to get this power up and running…if I have it, then they won't go away."

Forte passed him and nodded while she looked towards the spiraling rails of the distorted world. "I see…then I would say that the safety of your family is motivation enough for you to not fail, hmm?"

"…"

"Is that why you chose to save me? You could've left me to die and tried to take your family away to safety. With the resources in Emiya's possession, simply disappearing wouldn't be too difficult, especially with him and the Einzbern homunculus by his side." She turned towards him with her sharp gaze. "Tough, that man won't act out against us, he knows everything that it's at stake and that we have him at Check. All that's necessary for a complete Checkmate is you screwi—!"

"Can we stop?" Shirou aske bluntly as he began to walked further into the Labyrinth. "Let's just finish what we came here to do."

"… As you say, Shirou Emiya."

With that the two began to move in silence.

Running through the endless darken corridors, the two began to slowly filled out the map in Forte's possession. Stopping as the sound of loud stomping filled their ears, the two look through the corner to see two massive Phantasmal Shades. Forte clicked her tongue in annoyance, giving Shirou a look. The redhead sighed as he noticed what she wanted and he got to work.

Going at lightning speeds, he crossed the distance between the corner and the monsters in a instant. The sound of the wind being cut rang through the air as the redhead had unleashed Kanshou and Bakuya in his dash. Both blades reached the unsuspecting monsters, stabbing themselves into his face and stunning the towering creatures into the floor. Shirou opened his empty hands once more and once more they were holding the Yin-Yang Swords. Spinning his wrists, Shirou burst once more into movement and cut the enemy down before they had the chance to recover.

 **SLASH!**

And just like that, the enemies were taken off. Black and red liquid substance exploded as the Shades disappeared, leaving nothing but a couple of trinkets and soda cans. He looked at them curiously before he turned towards Forte.

The magus looked at him with an impressed look and nodded her head. "Very nicely done. I had thought it would be much difficult to dispatch of this things."

"It is." Shirou clarify as he looked to where the Shades had been. "Back in Fuyuki, taking down those hulking things was easy, one single slash from Kanshou or Bakuya and it was done. The only time they actually became incredibly problematic was when they transformed into mystical figures or creatures—when they stopped holding back. But here..."

"They're much stronger." Forte finished for him as she looked around at the spiraling maze they were in. "If it's true that the source of the Mental Shutdown is here. Then we must be ready for anything Emiya. My faction will not allow for failures, do you understand?"

"Yeah." Shirou answered with his lips curving down at the words from the magus. Though, behind his eyes behind his mask squinted slightly when the woman once more brought up the word faction when describing the Association. He turned towards the magus as she walked past him. "Why do you keep calling the Association as faction?"

The woman stopped and turned towards him, her nose wrinkled at his question. "You were not told?"

"Told?" His lips parted slightly and behind the red blindfold his eyebrows went past his hairline. The woman's lips quirked down in distaste and scoffed.

"Of course, that man wouldn't have something like that be reveal to you now would he. But if the Lords saw fit to honor the agreement then I don't see why I should ruin that."

Shirou's early reaction melted away for a sour one very clearly. "What are you saying?"

"What I'm saying is that it is none of your business." The curt and cold answer from Forte had the young man frowning. The woman stopped for a moment, turning towards him with distracted eyes and a more relaxed expression. "But seeing as I was task with this mission I will freely give you this answer. You are property of the Animusphere Faction. In other words, this entire operation is being handle by those who followed and understood the direction the late Lord Marisbury wished to lead the Association. Does that satisfy your naive curiosity?"

The redhead gritted his teeth at the manner he was being treated, but he bared with it. "Yes..."

"Good, do you have any other question or do you want to waste more of our time?"

He looked at the woman with an unreadable look, bowing his head as his mind went into overdrive. ' _I do have a question...what did she mean by the direction Marisbury wanted to lead the Mage's Association in? There's something she isn't telling me...no, there's definitely something that is not being told to me...but what? Does it have something to do with that 'man'...who could it be...dad? No...it couldn't be, it wouldn't make any sense to keep things from me...'_

Despite how his thoughts he gave a simple— "No."

"Then let's go."

With that, the two journey further into the distorted maze.

.

.

.

.

* * *

4/10 Sunday, ?

"Damn…was the Labyrinth in Fuyuki full of that many Phantasmal Shades…!?" Forte grumbled as they came down the rail tracks and into a waiting station, with two trains at the sides rushing away at high speeds. "Just how many changes are present in this Labyrinth compared to the one in Fuyuki…!?""

Shirou moved behind the woman, he tilted his head to the side to get a better look at what was up front—

"Huh…a door?" He muttered as he stepped towards a massive door that impeded their progress. Forte held a hand towards him, stopping him with a scowl on her face.

"What is wrong with this place…? Reports of the Labyrinth in Fuyuki didn't mention anything like this or even the amount of Shades all hoisted here…even the depths have gone beyond what Fuyuki was capable of. It's almost as if this place truly is the origin of whatever the Shutdown Cases truly are…"

"Miss Forte, what do we do about the door?"

She didn't respond as she touched it with her free hand, examining it—but she received no response. She looked back at the redhead and gestured for him to come forward. "Try and see if your powers work on this door."

He nodded and approached the large door and placed a hand on it. After taking a deep breath he focused his thoughts.

"Trace—on!"

Circuits extended past his body towards the door, his Structural Analysis checking every nook and cranny the obstacle had to offer, yet—

"I can't read anything from it…"

"Damn it…" Forte growled, shaking her head she pulled out the notebook where the Labyrinth had been completely mapped out. "It seems that not every secret concerning this place has been disclosed. Fine, at the very least we have a map of the Labyrinth. Come Emiya, let's go."

Forte turned on her heel and went back from where they came. The two roused up the stairs, making it back to the labyrinth.

"We have to take a right, right?" Shirou asked awkwardly at repeating the same word. The mage woman paid it no heed as she checked the book and nodded.

"Yes." She said with confidence as she walked forward, only slowing down at the corner to check for enemies. She peeked around it— "Let us sneak back to th—What!? How is this possible!?"

Forte flinched away from the corner, her mouth agape and eyes twitching from left to right. Shirou quickly appear behind her and look to what the woman was gazing at. He too came to a stop, taking a step back and raised his red mask over his face just to make sure his vision wasn't failing him.

The direction they had taken was now completely sealed off. It was supposed to lead them towards a long corridor, filled with false turns towards the left and with the only real exit being the next right. However, instead of the long corridor, all they saw was a dead end.

"This…are you sure we had to take a right, Miss Forte?"

"Of course I'm sure!" She turned sharply towards him, her eyes darkening as she sneered at him. She took a step towards him, forcing him to take one back, and shoved the book right on his face. Shirou's eyes instinctively close, something missed by Forte as she pointed to the map that marked all their progress in the Labyrinth. She looked over his shoulder and then pointed in the direction, he followed her finger after a second and saw a short corridor that twisted towards the only exit in the left. "This…this is a possibility that I had feared…that this entire place is very much in fact an ever changing labyrinth…"

The redhead looked at both directions and bit his lips. "But this didn't happen in—!"

"Things change…" Forte snapped the small book close and ground her teeth. She pocketed the book, turning away from him. "This was a waste of our time. Come Emiya, let's get out of here... this place sickens me…"

The two moved quietly, once more avoiding contact with any of the shadows. Even though frustration was prevalent in the two, they were careful as they avoided the towering monsters crawling around. They rose up through the levels of the depths, darting from shadow to shadow.

They kept the same monotonous pace until they stopped for a short break with only two more levels left before they could escape. Hiding by a corner, the two maintained vigilance for any wandering monster that got too close and—

Shirou frowned as his ears started twitching as he picked up on something coming from the corridor from which they had arrived from. "Miss Forte…do you hear something…?"

"What…?' The woman muttered something and her ears perked up. "It sounds like—!"

"A bike…!?"

Without warning, turning the corner from the long corridor before them, they saw it—

A dark figure riding on an equally dark motorcycle swerving right with swiftness and careful precision. The dark figure looked up, revealing to the two explorers his—

"Black Mask!" Shirou grounded out in surprise, as Forte took out her blade.

"It seems coming here wasn't a waste after all…Emiya, liste—!" She started to relay her orders, turning just in time to see the redhead dash past her with a great burst of speed. She whirled around in surprise from the show of power, before gaining her bearings. "You idiot what are—!"

Shirou didn't listen, nor did he care as he rushed headfirst to catch up to the Black Mask Assassin, the man responsible for taking him away from his family. However, even more importantly, the one responsible for Illya's pain that day.

The cause of his family being in danger!

If he could stop that man here and now, then he would secure the satisfaction of the Mage's Association, along with his family's safety.

So there was no need for words—except for two.

"Trace—on!"

His hands were filled with his blades, Kanshou and Bakuya—the two swords that never failed to answer his call. The first time he had been forced to go into the Labyrinth and the first time he had seen a someone die right in front of him—it was these two swords that came to his mind and were used to fight for his survival.

And now they would be used to defeat the Black Mask Assassin.

"Arrrya!"

He jumped high in the air, raising both blades over his head in the form of a cross. He spiraled down like a mad hurricane down on the Black Mask. The enemy had noticed him, finally seeing Shirou in the distorted landscape of blacks and reds. He barely swerved out of the way as the redhead crashed down violently, destroying the floor and rails with his impact and leaving a cloud of smoke in his wake.

The Black Mask turned his head back as he rode his vehicle, seeing Shirou burst out of the smoke and running after him at tops speeds. The assassin moved his hand towards his mask, but stopped as his ears picked up on another incoming source.

He whirled around quickly, unleashing a powerful slash with a serrated katana that collided with the unseen wind spell. Forte clicked her tongue, frustrated and very quickly recognizing that her standing in this world was not one of power. Nevertheless she rushed forward, seeing an opportunity.

The assassin looked up in surprise as his head darted back and forth, realizing that he was trapped in a pincer position.

Forte muttered a spell, aiming for the vehicle's wheels instead of the driver. Shirou, on the other hand, went for a more aggressive approach and chose to focus on cutting away at the enemy until they had no choice but to surrender. There was no escape, if the two played their cards right, they could end the threat of the Black Mask Assassin here and now!

The dark assassin bowed his head—Shirou and Forte took it a sign of defeat as they moved for their attack—

And in a blink of an eye the assassin drifted sharply to the right, avoding Forte's spell as it crashed against the floor, while Shirou's slashes hit nothing but air. The assassin narrowly missed crashing into the edge of a wall and avoided wiping out on the rails as he headed for the direction of the exit.

"Don't let him escape!" Forte order as she skidded low on the floor, Shirou meeting with her in a similar position—though he used his blades to slow himself down. The woman glared at him, but he paid no mind as he watched the assassin escape into a another corridor filled with Shades. The assassin drove expertly, weaving left and right to avoid nine monsters from crushing him beneath their towering strikes.

Forte took a step forward, her legs glowing with a faint light as they were quickly covered in circuits as the winds began to pick up and hug them. It was a spell, that would imbue her wind affinity into her legs, allowing her to run even faster than a normal human could ever possibly hope for.

Shirou did something similar, only his method was much cruder and something he tended to get mocked for by some of the mages responsible for overseeing him. He simply reinforced his legs—

And sailed past Forte like a bullet.

He neared the lumbering Shades—the enemy took notice of him and prepared to intercept him.

"Out of the way!" Shirou jumped high as one of the masked monsters aimed to crush him with its fist. The redhead twisted over the monsters head, and unleashed a flurry of slashes that cut the enemy into ribbons. He landed on the floor, and danced away from another overhead smash—countering by letting his Kanshou swing and take the offending arms. Gritting his teeth in frustration at the escaping Assassin, he—

He needed—

He needed to hit him from a distance.

The Black Mask Assassin passed the last of the dwelling monsters, and got ready to take a right to escape. He revved up his bike and—

 **Crash!**

He recoiled in shock as a mere meter away from him, the ground exploded. Snapping his head to see the fist size crater, he saw an arrow lodged in it and immediately his eyes looked behind him to meet those of the assailant responsible.

Shirou was in midair, his teeth bare as he held onto a black bow. The string was pulled back as he readied himself to unleash another arrow on the escaping assassin. He focused as the assassin was about to turn, ready to shoot out his wheels and—

"Aero Strike!" Shirou's eyes widened as he looked back and saw Forte being pushed back. Her enchanted legs giving her the speed she needed to avoid attacks from the Shades. Unfortunately, her attack were completely ineffective against the hulking brutes. Forte's eyes went wide as one of the monsters lunged for her.

 **BANG!**

A sudden explosion sent the attacking monster crashing against the floor and left it disoriented. This grabbed the attention of the seven Phantasmal Shades who followed the trajectory of the arrow—and were all immediately struck in the face by two arrows each. The Shades all recoiled back in surprise and fell to the floor—his projectiles proving to be great at hitting the enemy in their critical weak spots and stunning them.

Shirou landed on the floor and looked at the surprised Forte. She stared right back at him and immediately understood that he had not only saved her, but had opened a path for her as well. He whirled around and ran after the assassin. "Hurry!"

He paid no mind on whether she was following him or not. From the little he had seen, she could take care of herself and she had an more than enough opportunity to get away. And if there was any more enemies, then he would do the same thing he had done now.

But now—now it was time to catch the Black Mask Assassin.

He ran quickly, his legs going beyond their limits as he blurred through the corridors, all while following the echoing sounds of the motorcycle. He turned a corner and saw the assassin going up the steps to the level above with his vehicle. Shirou ground his teeth and leaped forward crossing what was left of the corridor and reaching the stairs in a single bound.

He ran up the steps fast, his free and empty hand opening as he gave silent 'trace-on' in his focused state. An arrow appeared and he jumped the remaining seven steps and caught onto the assassin as he ran into a straight and empty corridor—only a single Phantasmal Shade was present. Once more jumping and keeping his eyes peeled on his target, he readied his shot.

Shirou landed on his knees, his bow never deterring from his foe and his arrow straight for a clean shot.

"It's over! Black Mask!" His finger loosened, but—

Black Mask passed near the lone Phantasmal Shade and he ripped his mask off . "LOKI!"

The Phantasmal Shade was suddenly overwhelm by a great and terrifying power. Red energy overtook the Phantasmal Shade and just as the Black Mask passed him, the Shade let out a ear-screeching roar.

The horrible sound was enough for Shirou to lose his focus, causing his arrow to miss the assassin by a few meters. He did not even have the time to curse in frustration as the Phantasmal Shade suddenly darted towards him with far greater speed than it normally showed. Shirou barely had time to dodge, the hulking body missing his frame by mere centimeters—yet the force of the charge was enough to send the redhead stumbling back.

He regained his balance just in time to see the Shade whirl around to face him, roaring again as it charged. As it got closer, he could see that its form was bubbling and turning into liquid. Suddenly, its body expanded before it exploded. The redhead flinched as his instincts screamed at him of the looming danger—

"Switch—!" His bow started to frizzle out just as the bladed end of a spear flew forward towards his face. "Off!"

His bow disappeared and was replaced by Kanshou and Bakuya—he slashed outward to defend from the blow—

 **BOOM!**

"Gruak!" The overwhelming power of the spear thrust was far too much. His blades cracked and he was sent flying through the air, crashing violently against the wall beside him. The wind escaped him, his body continued to push through the wall until it caved in and he was sent stumbling out on to the other side—spinning out of control, he finally came to a stop as the rubble and debris crashed onto his disoriented form.

Shirou groaned, trying to get to get back on his feet. He looked up, trying to see where he was. The sound of a train going off immediately made him turn to see he was inside a somewhat normal subway station—with said train leaving through a tunnel. His eyes caught two rails leading to separate directions for the train and he analyzed that the area he was on was a train platform.

He got back on his feet, and nearly stumbled into someone. He flinched back as he saw a normal business man, with yellow eyes go to the edge of the platform and wait for the train. He immediately backpedaled when the sound of multiple footsteps echoed around him. Looking around him he noticed even more yellow eyed citizens go in and wait the line.

"…these are…normal Shades…" He commented as looked at the hole from whence he came. He quickly realized that he needed to get out of here quick. If the Phantasmal Shade came in and started attacking him, then the people whom the shades belonged to could die in the real world—

 **"Please…someone…help me…"** He froze as a familiar voice reached his ears. He turned towards the right where he heard the voice coming from, towards a dark corner where he saw a lonesome girl curled up into a ball.

"…Suzui-san…?"

 **"I…I can't take it anymore…"** Suzui's Shade cried as she breathed erratically. **"Kamoshida-sensei…just keeps asking for more and more…he just keeps getting angrier…I can't stop him…and Ann is suffering…because someone as pathetic as me can't do anything to stop it…I…I just want it stop…I want him to leave me alone…I don't want him to hit me anymore…"**

"Suzui-san…!?" For just a brief moment, Shirou forgot where he was and his current objective as he walked towards the girl. What was it that she just said? What did she mean when she said that she was getting abuse?

If what she said was indeed true, then his thoughts concerning the teac—!

 **BANG!**

Shirou spun around to see a cloud of smoke and the platform cracking under the weight of the foe that had just appeared. The sound of neighing echoed through the platform. As the smoke cleared, the form the Phantasmal Shade had taken was revealed. What was once a giant mass of black shadows, was now a knight holding a long spear high over his head while rode on a red horse, who neighed a war cry as the red aura grew more intense. The Shade locked eyes with him and immediately charged towards him.

The redhead tensed, ready to dodge out of the way and—

 **"Someone…please help…"**

His eyes went wide as he remembered who exactly was behind him—

Time slowed down as the attacking Phantasmal Shade approached him, its spear aiming straight for his heart.

He couldn't move, if he did, then Suzui would die.

He couldn't move, or an innocent life would end.

He couldn't move, because that girl was begging for help.

There was nothing he could do.

The girl would die no matter what he did.

If the monster attacked him—then the force of the strike would send him flying back and crush Suzui's Shade, thereby killing her in real life.

If he dodged, then the monster's attack would pierce through her Shade and kill her in the real world.

Even if he managed to push the monster back, it would just keep coming back until he had nothing left but to submit to the power of the monster's strikes.

It was an impossible task.

 _…a faraway sound…_

There was nothing he could do.

 _…the sound was nearing…_

He had screwed up.

He had wanted so badly to end the threat toward his family that he had acted far too rashly.

 _…this sound was…_

But in the end he had ended up with nothing.

The assassin had probably gotten away, most likely laughing and mocking him for his weakness.

Forte would most likely deem him useless and have him turned into an obedient slave with no will or emotions. A true human puppet.

He would no longer have a family left to protect because of his foolishness.

An innocent life would be lost because of him.

All because his intentions didn't match what he could do.

This was exactly what Black Mask had said to him, wasn't it?

 _'...Mere goodness can achieve little against the power of nature...'_

He felt the fire in him grow cold.

He felt his powers recede and—

 _…this was the sound of a train approaching…_

His eyes went wide—his mask burned away as a resurgent of power willed themselves into his hands.

"TRACE—!"

There was only an option left.

At the speed of light, his arms blurred into motion. The spear was now mere inches away from his chest.

Yet—

"OFF!"

Kanshou and Bakuya cracked as they were immediately overloaded with power far beyond what their forms could take. The blades crashed against the spear—and exploded with a fierce and fiery cry. The horseman Shade cried out in shock and fury—

Meanwhile Shirou was sent stumbling backwards, quickly recovering and spinning in a tight ball until he crashed against the wall feet first—a mere meter away from Suzui, he looked down at her crying Shade.

 _'I will save you…'_

His eyes focused back on the recovering monster and—

"TRACE ON!"

His feet were fueled with power and he jumped away from the wall and like missile he honed in on the Phantasmal Shade, twisting his body so that he could drop kick the monster right on its head. A powerful shock-wave resounded from the powerful blow and sent the monster reeling back. It could do nothing as Shirou's attack sent it falling onto the train tracks.

And in that very moment, a train came speeding by, crashing into the Shade and destroying it completely.

Shirou landed on his back, sliding on the floor until he hit the wall. He shook his head and quickly got to his feet. A sigh of relief escaped him as he noticed the danger had passed. The human Shades had ignored the fiasco and instead proceeded to board the train. Shirou watched them go, slightly surprised by their apathy, but he decided to ignore it for the time being. Instead he needed to focus on the more urgent issue, and turned towards the still tormented Suzui.

"Su—!"

"Emiya! Emiya! Where are you!?"

Shirou looked up at the hole where he had come through, recognizing Forte's voice. He sighed, knowing that there would be repercussions for his actions.

But, it was worth it. If it meant that he could help someone like Suzui, then there was no reason to regret his actions.

He sighed and walked towards the broken wall.

 **"Please…I just want to play volleyball…I don't want to keep getting beaten…I don't want Ann degrading herself for me…"**

"You won't have to…soon." Shirou said solemnly, before he jumped up and made is way through the hole. He landed back on the black and red corridors, there he saw Forte—

He took a step back and swallowed nervously as his took in Forte expression. Her face red, jaw tight and eyes wide and bloodshot. The look on the woman's face made Shirou take a deep gulp as he took a brave step forward.

"What the hell were you thinking!?" The near shrill demand made him wince as she marched over to him.

"I—ugh!" His words failed to come out as a gasped of pain escaped his lips. A strong impact to his stomach had him doubling over and gasping for air. He fell to his knees, both hand around his midsection with a clear wince. He looked up at her, his eyes catching the distorted air from her bladed wand.

"You foolish little brat! We were so close to ending this entire fiasco…and you had to screw it all up! I told you explicitly from day one! Follow my word to the very letter! Do not disobey me…that includes acting on your own accord like this!"

Shirou looked away from her glacier-like eyes, his teeth gritted as he took on the brunt of her assault. "I jus—!"

"Not another word out you Emiya." Her flushed face suddenly lost all color and her breath became even. "You just proved to me that you are unreliable, a liability!... We will return to the apartment…and once there we will review everything that occurred here, do you understand? If I conclude that you are a waste of resources Emiya…you know what that means, right?"

"…gku!" Shirou hands clenched into fists, while his eyes went wide at the clear implication.

"…let's go Emiya, and I don't want to hear a word out of you until we reach the apartment."

With that Forte turned around and marched away towards the exit. Shirou gritted his teeth, but followed meekly behind her.

Silent and obedient.

His leash suffocating.

And his chains reminding him of his place.

It was at that thought, that his red, black and white outfit disappeared.

Leaving him cold and weak as he wordlessly followed after the furious magus.

…

…

…

…

A few meters away, hidden by the darkness an elderly man watched the entire scene curious aged and sharp eyes. His gaze was entirely focused on the redhead's left hand, very aware of what was there. A blue butterfly flew across his face, illuminating his aged sinister expression. A smirk spread through his lips, lifting up the well-trimmed mustached in his amusement.

"Well, well...I wasn't expecting to find another Command Spell bearer around this parts...I lost my chance two years ago, but now...hmhmhmhm!"

.

.

.

.

* * *

 _4/10 Sunday, Afternoon_

The sun was setting.

It was close for the orange sky to turn into a night sky.

The cool breeze of the evening breeze passed over Shirou's form as he sullenly followed behind Forte. The woman kept a brisk pace as they moved towards their apartment.

"Hey you heard right?" Shirou heard a young man say to his friend as they walked in the same direction as him and Forte. The friend turned towards the young man.

"Yeah…about the train station incident? I heard…shit I'm just glad that I got off the train in time…"

"I heard it was another Psychotic Breakdown case…"

Shirou's eyes went wide, then narrowed as he looked to the side. "The Black Mask…"

He felt a shiver and looked up to see Forte glaring at him for speaking, he bowed his head and followed her in silence as the two young men continued to talk.

"Hmhmm…geez, seriously, but for it to affect the guy driving a damn train? Seriously?"

"I heard that a ton of people got hurt pretty badly though…now that's scary…"

"What the hell is our country coming to?"

Shirou gritted his teeth.

 _'…Black Mask…you…I'll stop you…for my family…and for everyone else too…'_

His inner fire flickered to life at his vow.

.

.

.

.

* * *

 ** _Interlude_**

 ** _4/10 Sunday, Afternoon_**

 ** _My Wild Card_**

He watched them leave the train station entrance.

His eyes watched them walk away.

The woman, the mage was obviously angry and frustrated by what had happened.

And the boy, the one who had received the marking on his hand…the one who was vital for all he had worked for against 'him'. He growled at the thought, but quickly smoothed his features into the typical one he showed in public.

"Emiya…Shirou…heh…yeah…" He adjusted his bicycle and began paddling away towards his own apartment. "You need some work…but it definitely wasn't a mistake to let you live. You are too important to me now…my Wild Card…"

* * *

 **Story Beta: Crossovernaru**

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **Newest chapter in! And has you can notice, this version of the story has already diverge from its counterpart. While some things still need to happen in the same vein as Oath, this story will be handling them much more differently and taking some stuff from canon out. The thing I've noticed with the old story was that while I was working in trying to make Shirou feel be a natural part of the Persona world, I took it too far and made him feel like a side character. While I was aware of the moment where he would break away from it, you the readers didn't and that was bad mistake I made.**

 **But here as you can see Shirou is able and can take charge if need be.**

 **Anyway this chapter is quite important as its setting up things that will happen later down in the story. Hints of things not being right and the interest of other characters in Shirou has been set. Now let's see what comes out of it.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Don't be afraid to PM about the story if you want to discuss the story.**

 **Until next time. Adios!**


	5. Being Afraid

_**Arc 1: Welcome to Shibuya  
**_

 _4/11 Monday, Morning_

… _I have decided to keep you with your wits about, Emiya. I have seen that you have some forethought and creativity while in the Distorted Labyrinth…getting rid of your will would just make you be even more useless. Though…while you are a pain to work with, I prefer that over a useless asset. But, make no mistake boy…if you do something like that again—if you disobey me once more…my faction will be more than willing to carry out their promise. Don't spit in the face of those who have shown you kindness…_

Shirou pursed his lips, his eye sagging with Forte's words echoing around him. His fingers clenched into a fist, nails digging into the flesh. He bared his teeth and narrowed his eyes into slits as he marched towards the school.

 _'It's the only way to protect them. '_ He stopped, a metallic taste passed through his taste buds. He blinked and relaxed his clenched jaw. His eyes twitched as his teeth, grinders and gums ached. His tongue moved, rubbing the inside of his mouth and then stuck it out—he crossed his eyes down and saw blood coating the tongue. _'It was the only way…'_

"Hey did you hear about that new transfer student?"

"I can't believe they would let some guy with a criminal record come in!"

The redhead eyes uncrossed as dozens of fellow students passed by him turning their heads towards him, pointing and muttering to each other. He turned away from them and let his eyes wander from where he heard the female voices. Walking passed him were two plain looking girls, hogged together with a single umbrella keeping them from getting wet.

"Huh—!?" He blinked, then flinched back. He tilted his head up and drops of rain hit his face, running through his skin. He moved his left arm up to protect himself from the rain. He stopped and noticed his soaking wet uniform. A soft "Damn" escape his wet lips, shaking his arms and letting the sponged up water splattered off his uniform. He shook his head, stopping from trying to dry himself and marched towards his destination. His eyes narrowed, his gaze wandering in the direction of the two plain looking girls. "A student with a criminal record…coming to our school…?"

He pursed his lips, then shrugged as he jogged towards the school.

A minute of jogging passed and his eyes wander towards Shujin Academy's building. He went up the steps and entered through the main entrance, shaking and wiping his wet uniform with his hands. He winced and let out a breath, the wet dark clothing clung to his skin and he squirmed. He scratched the back of his head, his gaze searching for a towel in the school's entrance. He shook his head as he just saw dozens of students filling the entrance. He walked out of the main entrance, heading to the school's gym for a towel.

Taking long strides, he turned the corner—"Whoa!" The redhead collided with someone else and his vision went black. Blinking, he took a step back with wide eyes and hands up in front to keep some distance. A girl with dark hair met his gaze, taking a step back as well. Shirou focused his gaze to the girl's dark brown eyes, and then he stopped. He blinked as he saw the girl in her entirety. "A-Ah…Suzui-san, good morn—!"

His throat constricted and his body clenched shakily as his eyes caught something on the girl's face. Suzui's left cheek was purple and swollen, her left eye squinting. His gaze centered entirely the girl's wide eyes and his nails dug once more into his palm.

The light in her brown eyes was dimmed, a glazed over gaze met with his eyes. Suzui took a step back to create some distance between them, head bowed and eyes snapping to the side.

… _Please…I just want to play volleyball…I don't want to keep getting beaten on…_

"O-Oh…Emiya-san, good morning." Her soft voice made him relaxed, his gaze focused on her lips quirking up shakily. Even as her lips formed a smile, her eyes were still glaze over and avoided his. Her dark brown eyes gazed down at his wet school uniform and her eyebrows shot up. "You're wet! Emiya, didn't you have an umbr—!"

"Who hurt you?"

Suzui took a step back as she looked at him with shaking eyes. Her gaze avoided his once more and she gulp with difficulty into her tight throat.

"W-What…this…? It's nothing…it's from volleyball practices…I don't know if I've told you, but I'm taking the starter position for the volleyball team…" Her body shiver, eyes darting left and right then back at his. She licked her pale lips, bowing her head again. "And Kamoshida-sensei is a former Olympian gold medalist…so of course his teaching will be tough…he just…he just has higher expectations of us…."

He clenched his jaw, eyes narrowing as the girl's brown eyes looked up at him with furrowed brows. "…" He took a step forward, lips parting but the girl shook her head and took one step back.

"Please…Emiya-san…don't do anything…whatever you think is happening it's…" She looked down, bringing her left hand towards her right forearm and rubbing it. Shirou's lips pulled down, chewing his lip with canine tooth he clenched his hands.

"Are you sure Takamaki-san?"

The two teenagers jumped, eyes wide at the loud voice that broke through the school entrance. They turned around and peeking their head from around the corner to see the P.E teacher sauntered through the entrance. Walking beside the man was a blonde girl dressed in the school's uniform and a hoodie, her eyes look at anything but the man. Her shoulders were hunch over, head bowed and she squirmed whenever Kamoshida took a step too close to her.

"A-Ann…" Suzui's voice quivered, the redhead turned and focused his golden brown eyes on the girl behind him. Her teeth were bare, eyes entirely center on the blonde girl as her grip on her forearm tightened leaving flushed marks on her pale flesh. He bit the inside of his cheeks and rotated his head back to where the blonde was.

The blonde, Takamaki, let out a breath escape her and raised her head towards the teacher—though, her eyes didn't meet his dark eyes. "Y-Yeah…I'm sure, while I appreciate you helping get here…you don't have to worry…"

Kamoshida pursed his lips, leaning back on his heels he rubbed his squared-chin with long and rough fingers. He clicked his tongue at the response, lips pulling up scornfully. His eyes wander around to the other curious students murmuring among themselves. Lips pulling up and showing his teeth, he took a step forward with both on his waist. "I understand Takamaki-san, but do remember that the one who went into car quite gladly was you. So please be more considerate of my feelings as well."

Takamaki flinched at the loud voice the man let out from beside her, she bowed her head and narrowed her eyes. Shirou saw her lips moved and the man's grin wrinkled his face as he placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezed and then turned on his heel to leave. The students watched the man leave and then set their narrowed gazes towards the lone girl.

"Hey you saw that? Typical Takamaki, always being the gold digger."

"Seriously, just because she can't get good grades she decides to go after the best teacher in the school."

"What can you expect from a foreigner like her."

Shirou's lips quirked down, eyebrows dropping as the students murmurs filled the area. His gaze wandered towards all the students, seeing them whispered amongst each other conspiracies and rumors about the blonde girl.

' _Are they seriously that blind…that they don't notice he was making her uncomfortable? He raised his voice to humiliate her… he knew that this would happen! How can a teacher act like that!?'_

"Stop it…" A quivering sob from behind made him flinch. Turning back, he opened mouth but he stopped—and his eyes widened as he took her expression. Suzui's eyes were moist, tears welled up in the corner of her eyes and short sharp breaths escaped from her tightened chest. The color of red caught his eyes and his gaze wander down to her hands. Tightly clenched fists with small beads of blood dripping through her fingers and marring the school floor. "Stop it…she doesn't have anything to do with this…"

"Suzui-san…"

The girl gasped and recoiled away from him, watery eyes looking at him snapping to meet his gaze. Her eyes scrunched up, cheeks turning red, lips pulled back in a grimace. Taking multiple steps away from him, she whirled around. "P-Please…have a good morning…"

He opened his mouth, stretching his left arm towards her but the girl jogged away from him. He watched her go in silence, the girl ripped the glass door that lead to the courtyard opened, before she stepped through it and disappear. Shirou's left hand fell back to his side and his eyes looked down at it. He bit the inside of his cheeks and looked down, heart hammering in his chest.

Something burned deep within him—something so hot and fierce that it brought memories of the first day he had faced Black Mask long ago.

' _I have decided…Kamoshida, I'll go for you in the Distorted Marble…'_

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _4/11 Monday, Afterschool_

The rumor-mongering students could be seen in the corners of the halls, murmuring about the new transfer student, the one with the criminal record, and a student named Sakamoto, a delinquent who was from the same class as him, and how both were extremely late today. As Shirou strolled through the halls, right hand holding onto his school bag, he heard their claims go from the two students in question being late to them being late because of them meeting a gang. He was already reaching the main entrance of the school and he was hearing about how the two students were planning to beat everyone down and sell drugs.

Shirou released air through his nostrils and rolled his eyes, catching sight of Kamoshida. He stopped, watching the man talked to two bandaged gym wearing students, the two teenagers had there heads bowed and nodded to whatever the teacher was saying. Shirou clenched his right hand around the handle of his bag, feeling the strapped rubbed his shoulder as he pulled it down with force.

… _Please…I just want to play volleyball…I don't want to keep getting beaten on…I don't want Ann degrading herself for me…_

He glared down at himself, his gut feeling heavy as disappointment and shame filled him. He looked back to where the teacher was but found empty space, the man had walked away with the students after he had looked down at himself. His jaw clench and as his eyes glazed over in thought. He felt disturbed, the implications of Suzui's words quite clear.

He clicked his tongue and shook his head, taking long strides to get out of the school building. He looked up at the clear sky with squinting eyes, the fading sun last glares peeking through the buildings. He looked down and blinked as his eyes caught sight of a small and narrow alleyway right in front of the school gate. He marched for it, getting down the steps and entering the small confine space. His golden eyes flickered from left to right, dirty paper, crumple cans, large black bags, puddles of water and trash cans. It was dirty and it looked secluded, he nodded as he sent a look back to the school and made sure no students came into the alley.

"Okay…" He took a step back, pressing his back against the corner of the alleyway as he pulled his bandaged left hand up. He took a deep breath. "Trace…on!" He clenched his now shaking hand, the Distorted Marker glowing through the bandages. He bared his teeth, the back of his hand feeling as if he was touching a hot stove. He let out a breath and closed his eyes. "Remember…just like when they made you enter dad's world…you need a name, a place and distortion."

… _Emiya Kiritsugu…_

… _Emiya Residence…_

… _Utopia…_

When he had entered his dad's distorted world, he felt awful. Even if he was being forced to do so by the mage's—all in the pursuit of knowledge and experimentation. He felt as if he was unjustly learning things from his dad that weren't earn.

His past.

His motives

His desires.

And his feelings.

It wasn't right to find all of that in such a manner. It felt as if he was violating the privacy and thoughts of someone. It irked him greatly to find so much of his father's nature like that. But above all else, he just felt robbed of the chance of discovering his father's secret by himself.

He wanted to earn it, to have earned that trust and feel closer to the man who took him when there was nothing for him in the world. He wanted to earn that knowledge for the man who gave him a family.

… _the mage's around him looked around, probing and experimenting in the Distorted Marble of his father._

 _A war torn world with the Emiya Residence being its throne._

 _The Phantasmal Shades, all dressed as soldier stood stock still—never once attacking, nor speaking or even moving the moment they stepped into their view._

 _The mage's found them fascinating—_

 _But what made him feel ashamed was seeing his father's inner self._

 _A tired man, dressed in grey armor around his legs and arms, a black tight bodysuit and red opened skirt and hood that draped over his shoulders. The Shade's outfit was similar to his own and for once, Shirou smiled crookedly at the similar outfit his dad wore._

 _His dad stood still, hands clenched beside his thighs and glaring through his red hood. His face was unreadable due to the bandages over his face, only his glowing yellow eyes showed his agitation. He was the only defense for the Emiya Residence, not allowing for anyone to step inside the empty house._

 _The man said nothing to the mages, and just stared with narrowed yellow eyes. His fingers twitching when they got to close._

 _But when his father looked at him, his yellow eyes softened and he pulled the bandaged mask off his lower face._

" _Shirou…the Mage's Association will ask of you things that you won't like, so this is the best advice I can give to you…_

 _Silence your heart._

 _I understand that things are rough for you now, and they will only get worse. But remember for what you're fighting for, for your mother, for Sella, for Leysritt…_

 _For Illya._

 _But remember that to fight for yourself…and when they ask of you too much, silence your heart so that it won't be destroyed…_

 _So that the Shirou who belongs to this house can return to it the day I save you…"_

Shirou opened his eyes, a smile tugging at this lips. His father's Shade had told him that and he had believed.

… _you won't be save…_

The smile turned upside down, remembering the cynical and inhuman mage's who had threatened his family. The ones who had told him he had no future as a human being.

… _if you disobey me once more…the Association will be more than willing to carry out their promise…_

He understood the consequences.

… _Please…I just want to play volleyball…I don't want to keep getting beaten on…I don't want Ann degrading herself for me…_

He straightened up, his eyes narrowing as he glared at his left bandaged hand. How could he possibly ignore such cry for help?

' _Because you're afr—!'_

He clenched his left fist tightly pain shooting through the back of his hand and his palm as he dug his nails into it.

"Suguru Kamoshida…" The Marker burned bright as the words were a matched with a distortion. His through rumbled as he hummed, raising an eyebrow. "…what could be the place? A gym?"

The burning in his hand dimmed. His eyebrows tugged down and he bit his lip. His gaze snapped away from his hand as his eyes trembled and his lips parted with a quiet "Wait." He turned his head towards the school building and he pursed his bruised lip.

"Shujin Academy…? Tsk!" A hiss escaped his mouth, right hand quickly grabbing his left wrist as he noticed the burning had intensified. He let out a breath and nodded, he scratched his right cheek and closed his eyes. "And all that's left is the distortion…but what could it be? Hrm…Olympics?"

The burning dimmed.

"…a gym?"

Nothing.

"A fight club?"

The burning remained dim.

"Hrm…what is it? Cou—"

His phone rang in his pocket, making him flinch and looked up. Blinking he reached with his right hand towards his school pants right pocket and pulled his phone out. His eyes went wide as he saw the caller id.

"Forte-san…?" Shirou gritted his teeth, hand tightening around his phone. He let out a shaky breath go from his chest right out of his mouth and tapped the button to accept the call. He placed the phone on his right ear, his nose wrinkling. "Forte-sa—I mean Miss Fort—!"

"Return to the apartment at once, Emiya. We will be discussing drill strategies for the next time we go to the Distorted Labyrinth. I expect you to arrive at a reasonable time."

"O-Oh yeah! I'll be the—!" The phone call was hanged up before he could finish saying anything. He looked down at the phone with gritted teeth. His hold over the phone clenching shakily. The phone groan under his hold and the screen cracked slightly. The small 'Creak' noise made him recoiled and softened his hold on the smartphone. He looked at the cracked screen and exhale through his nostril as he hunch over. His gaze felt heavy and dark. "I better get back…"

He looked back to the school with narrowed eyes. He wanted to stay and continue with his mission to do something about Kamoshida—

… _But remember for what you're fighting for, for your mother, for Sella, for Leysritt. For Illya…_

"Damn it…I can't…I can't just not help Suzui…but…"

Shirou bowed his head, shook it and then turned around and walked in the direction of the train station silently.

.

.

.

.

 _4/12 Tuesday, Afterschool_

Shirou walked through the familiars halls of the school to get out of it. His arms hung, swaying with each slow and measure step he took. His ears picked up the usual chatter of the rumor-milling students. Hold up in small groups across the halls and murmuring about the new transfer student and Sakamoto. He shook his head, his legs taking long strides as he lips tugged into a grimace.

His mind was simply a jumble mess of worries and cold-hard logic. His thoughts went from concern to his family, to thinking new ways to implement his powers at the behest of Forte after what had happened in the Labyrinth. Accompanying those thoughts were Suzui and the Kamoshida situation. His throat rumble as a guttural sound vibrated the soft inner flesh. He narrowed his eyes into slits as memories of yesterday's conversation with Forte resurface.

Bowing his head, his feet slammed down on the floor with each step. Students near him stopped muttering as they watched him march away. He turned the corner and felt a body slam into his. Taking a couple of step back, he brought his bandaged hand up to his stinging nose and grasped it.

"Oh! Sorry, my bad." His lips tugged up into an awkward smile as he let go of his nose. He blinked as a frizzy hair, glasses wearing student was shaking his head and looked up at him.

"Don't worry I should've paid more attention where I was going." The frizzy hair student words were quiet, he bowed his head with his hands inside his pockets and hunched over in order not to meet his gaze. Shirou raised an eyebrow at the action, he moved to say something.

"Hey did you see that? The new student bump into the criminal transfer student." Someone whispered loudly.

"Oh my god, is the delinquent transfer student going to hurt him."

Shirou narrowed his eyes as he look at two male students pointing and whispering to each other loudly. He let his gaze return back to the now revealed infamous transfer student. The frizzy hair young man let out a tired breath as he locked eyes with him and turned away.

"Sorry for bumping into you." The transfer student strolled towards main entrance of the school to leave, hunched over.

Shirou watched him walk away, blinking several times as his gut churned and made him scratched his cheek. He pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes towards the frizzy hair student, but relaxed and let air escape his nostril. He didn't understand the frizzy hair student situation nor did he know how much the rumor-mongering students were exaggerating when they spoke of him—but the glasses wearing student seemed like a good person to him.

So it didn't feel right to let his fellow transfer student walk away in a sour mood.

"Hey!" The transfer student right at the doors of the entrance and turned towards him with a raised eyebrow and a narrowed gaze. Shirou saw this and let his lips quirked up, offering a smile. He gestured towards the rumoring students with his bandaged left hand. "Don't let them get to you."

The transfer student blinked, his lips parting a little when he heard Shirou's words. His lips quirked, a smile forming as he turned around. He took out his right hand out of his pocket and waved at him. "Don't worry, they don't."

Shirou watched him walked away with a straighter back and reached the school gates, where he was stopped by a blonde young man. Shirou blinked _'Sakamoto?'_ , but his eyes looked away from the two when he saw a familiar figure from the corner of his eyes. Turning to the left, he saw Suzui standing by the administrative office. The girl eyes glazed over, slowly taking a stack of paper and putting them in her schoolbag.

He blinked as he took a couple steps towards the girl, stopping just a meter away from her .

"Suzui-san."

The girl jumped, her fingers trembling as four papers fully written slipped from her hand and floated down to the floor. She whirled around, hair whipping back as her eyes widen when she saw his face. A 'thud' noise went off when her back collided with the front desk of the administration desk. "E-Emiya-san…!? I'm sorry…you startled me…"

"It's not your fault, I was the one who came from out of nowhere." Shirou closed his eyes as his lips pulled back into grimace. He shook his head and hurriedly got to his knees, moving both hands to grasp the fallen papers and gathering them. He stood back up, looking at the girl with a small smile and handed the papers back. The girl looked at the papers with pursed lips and reached out with her right hand. Red and purple bruised fingers took a hold of them, snapping her hand back and hiding it behind her bag. She looked away from him, focusing on the floor underneath them. Shirou bit into his lips, staring at the girl with peering eyes. His mouth opened, but he stopped when the girl snapped her eyes back at him. Her shoulder tensed and shaky, she shook her head.

"Don't do anything about Kamoshida, Emiya-san…"

Shirou bit down on the inside of his cheeks, his eyes wide and recoiling slightly. "Am I that transparent…?"

Suzui bowed her head, she then shook her head. She looked up at him, her brown eyes steadying and her shoulders pulling back as they relaxed. "You just seemed like the type of person…who would go out of his way to do something like that…"

"Because it isn't wrong to help someone in need."

The girl looked at with wide eyes and bit even harder into her lip. She closed her eyes, once more her shoulder tensed up and began to shake. "I…we don't know each other at all…but that earnest response isn't all that surprising coming from someone like you…"

"Because there's nothing…" Shirou mouth remained opened as he blinked and looked down at the floor. Memories of his father's words and his own desires to protect his family filtered into his mind. He understood the consequences of this selfless, and yet selfish act he wanted to commit.

It wasn't wrong to help someone in need.

 **CRASH!**

The two jumped, whipping their heads towards the loud noise. Their eyes widened when they saw through the front door of the school, a curly hair girl dressed in the school gym's cloth. Her hands on her mouth as right on her feet were bags of gardening and the cart that was used to carry them flipped over to its side by the steps.

Shirou and Suzui looked at one another, blinking and then letting a small smile appear on their lips.

.

.

.

.

 _4/12 Afternoon_

"Thank you so much! Emiya-kun! Shiho-chan!"Curly reddish brown hair bounce as the girl, Haru Okumura, smiled with a gardening bag in her hands. The older girl held the bag by her waist, her arms straining as she moved towards a where a certain dozens fertilized filled pots were placed. She knelt before them, smile still in place as she dug her finger into the fertilizer. Shirou and Suzui moved shakily, arms straining and trembling as they carried the heavy bag.

"No worries Haru-sempai…" Suzui took a deep breath as she took the final three steps and reached the older girl, releasing the bag beside Okumura's. She exhaled loudly, rubbing her right forearm over her sweaty forehead. Shirou placed his own bag down on the opposite end of Suzui's. He shook his arms, soothing his aching bones and used his thumbs to cracked his fingers one by one. He blinked as he stared at the bag, then directed his gaze towards the eldest girl and gestured towards the plants.

"You need anything else Okumura-sempai?"

"Hmm, well I know it would be too much to ask…but…you think you can help me plant this seeds?" Okumura motioned towards the pot and gardening tools. "I know it's asking too much…but I will be needed elsewhere in an hour or so…"

"I can stay and help you for a bit." Shirou smiled as he took off his black school blazer. Placing the cloth over his shoulder, he walked towards the cart where the bags had been and left it hanging by the handle. _'As long as Forte-san doesn't go off on me like she did yesterday with her drills…the more time I spent away from that hardass the better…'_

"I'll help out too Haru-sempai." Suzui smiled, her eyes drooping towards the pot. "Practices today should be starting in about an hour, so I have time."

"Oh! Because of the Volleyball Rally tomorrow, right?" Okumura giggled, shoulder shaking as she tilted her head. She stopped waving her left hand "Sorry, sorry" and moved her other hand to take the seeds. Her remark made Shirou narrowed his eyes and tilt his head, eyebrows raising.

"Volleyball Rally?"

Suzui turned towards him with wide eyes and a slightly agape mouth. "You weren't aware of it? The school is hosting a Volleyball Rally for the team participant in the volleyball tournament that is starting next month."

"I've heard Kamoshida-sensei will be participating…" Okumura was still smiling as her eyes narrowed and took a pot with her slender fingers. Shirou knelt down beside the girls and took some of the seeds as well, but his eyes were somewhat glazed over as he squinted his eyes.

' _Kamoshida…this may be my chance to catch some information regarding the man…!'_

The three began gardening in silence with only Okumura's voice filling the small area as she directed them on how to handle gardening. As time began to pass, Shirou found the act of gardening to be somewhat relaxing—it kept his hands busy and his mind for once stopped whirling around in worry. His eyes narrowed as from the corner of his eyes he caught sight of a much relaxed Suzui. The sight of her eyes not being glazed over and the smile on her face made him imitate her. His eyes caught sight of her bruised fingers, then they snapped towards the fading one in her cheek and the smile dropped down into a frown.

 _'I'm sorry Suzui-san…but I need to know about the situation…'_

"So about the Volleyball Rally…uh, how's it going to be presented?"

Suzui stopped planting her seeds, her eyes looking at him through the corner of her eyes with a narrowed glanced. She pursed her lips and then looked away when his eyes focused on her. "The students will be playing volleyball in the gymnasium tomorrow…against Kamoshida and a group of his colleagues…"

His eyes went wide and his fingers clogged on the fertilized pot, he sat up straight. "Isn't that unfair!?"

"Yes it is." Okumura quiet voice made the two underclassmen twist their heads in her direction. Both blinking and leaning back as she planted a pot down on the dug in ground and pressed down with force, cracking the pot slightly. "A rally should be about the entire student body experiencing and supporting the volleyball team that will be competing…not about a single teacher showboating."

Suzui raised her hands up to her chest, grasping them with a sagging gaze towards the girl. "Okumura-sempai…"

The older girl reached out for a towel placed on top of the now empty gardening bags. Wiping her hands off the dirt, she let her gaze focus on the girl and her eyes sharpened into slits. "It's the truth…a teacher who does something so arrogant, cannot possibly be what he is presenting himself as."

' _She's aware…then does that mean others know!?'_ Shirou looked at the curly hair girl with wide eyes. _'…but then why hasn't anything been done about this!?"_

Okumura continued as she faced her body towards Suzui, her expression softening as small smile tugged at her lips. "You don't have to be afraid to tell others how you feel…I was once in your shoes, a long time ago. So please, Shiho-chan, rely in your sempai if you need help!"

Suzui looked at the older girl with her eyes drooping. Biting her lip and clenching her hands, she quickly bowed her head letting her dark hair hide her face. Shirou looked at the dark hair girl with his lips quirked down, he then focused his gaze towards the older girl. Okumura looked at the hunched over girl with a small smile and soft eyes.

"I think we're done he—!"

"Ah, so this is where you have been, Haru." Shirou and Okumura turned towards the sound of the voice. By the main entrance of the school, Niijima stood on the steps with her arms crossed and her reddish eyes narrowed. The council student pulled her arms off her chest and waved her phone with her right hand. "I've been calling you, you know?"

Okumura gasped, cheeks coloring red as she reached out for her phone in her tracksuit pocket and saw the missed calls and messages. "Oh! I'm so sorry Mako-chan, I was kind of distracted."

The curly hair bounced as she giggled, moving to clean up all the gardening material. Niijima sighed and shook her head.

"Whatever the case Haru, you need to be more attentive. We have an appointment after all...you know how he gets when we're late." The council student president turned towards Shirou and her eyes widened a little. "And you…this is the second time I'm seeing you help someone…you are quite altruistic, aren't you?"

Shirou face flushed at that, he opened his mouth to respond, but Okumura interrupted him as she smiled at her. "Oh leave him alone, Mako-chan! He's been a great help!"

"I can see that…" Niijima let out a breath escaped her lips and she pocketed her phone. "I'm sorry if I seem to be too pushy…it's just that it has been a busy week…"

"I understand." Shirou waved off her concern as he, Okumura and a silent Suzui finished cleaning up. A few minutes later Okumura had the cart with the empty gardening bags placed on it, she moved alongside Niijima. She turned around and waved at them, though her eyes were focused entirely on Suzui.

"Goodbye, Emiya-kun, Shiho-chan!" With that the two girls into the school's main entrance. This left Shirou and Suzui standing by the school steps alone. The two stood there in silence. Shirou turned towards Suzui, and saw her chewing on her lip with her eyes looking away from him. He eyed her as she shook, opening her mouth then closing it. He stood there and waited for her to speak.

Minutes ticked by, and the sky started to lose its orange tint—and yet both students didn't move.

"Ann…Ann is hurting, you know…"

"Hm?" He turned towards the other girl and saw her fist clenched tightly and shaking.

"Ann is suffering for me…she thinks I haven't noticed…but I…"

Shirou's eyes widened, biting the inside of his cheeks.

… _Stop it…she doesn't have anything to do with this…_

"Suzui-san…"

"Helping people isn't wrong…right…?" She looked up at him with glaze over eyes, her lips spread into a shaky smile. "Of course it isn't…helping someone in need…it makes you feel nice, it is nice. So it's obvious…that I want to help her…I want to relieve her of all the humiliation and pain she is going through…I want to do the same with everyone else in the volleyball team too. But…but…"

"Suzui-san…" He took a step towards her his left hand reaching out for her once again. She looked at the offered hand, then shakes her head and turned around.

"How can I help any of them…when I can't even help myself…?"

Shirou looked at her with wrinkled brows, her words making him shiver and take a step back. He clenched his hand tightly to get rid of the sensation. "You can start, by not being afraid."

" _ **Hypocrite."**_

He recoiled as if struck by the words coming from within. They had cut much deeper than what he thought possible. His offered left hand went for his chest, his heart hammering against his ribcage for release. The girl didn't noticed his discomfort, even as she turned towards him with a resigned smile.

"Saying not to be afraid is easy…but it's so hard not being afraid when faced with impossible odds Emiya-san."

Shirou stopped and watched her go in silence.

She walked away from him—returning back to her living hell.

He looked down with narrowed eyes.

… _Mere goodness can achieve little against the power of nature…_

"D-Damn it…"

Her words had hit far too close to home. Far to close.

… _But remember for what you're fighting for, for your mother, for Sella, for Leysritt. For Illya…_

He had duty to fulfill, he understood this perfectly.

So why did her fear resonated so deeply with him…!?

' _Because you're afr—!'_

No.

' _Because you're afraid that they—!'_

No!

He had a duty to fulfill.

He had to remain focus.

He couldn't falter now.

He had to keep his family save, no matter what. It didn't matter if his dignity was dragged through the floor. It didn't matter if he was going to be bound and shackled forever.

As long as his dad, his mom, his two silly maids and Illya could smile for another day.

He would be satisfied.

As long as Illya could look forward to a brighter future then it didn't matter what happen to him.

"What…if it isn't enough…?"

And for the first time since he had been given this offer, he felt himself hesitate.

Because if the Mage's Association didn't intend on keeping their words, what could he do to stop them…?

* * *

 **Beta: Crossovernaru**

* * *

 **Author's Note  
**

 **Hello there. This is an early release because I'm still trying to find a good day for when to post a new chapter. So that's why the chapter is coming out today.**

 **As for the chapter, this one is dealing with the fallout of the last chapter in a more personal matter for Shirou. And we get to see how Shirou is taking everything that has been happening to him. Also, I'm trying out a new writing technique that finally clicked on my brain on how to do. So excuse me if there are any grammatical errors, I'll be looking into them at a later date.  
**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Until next time, adios!**


	6. You Can Rely on Me

**_**Arc 1: Welcome to Shibuya**_**

 _4/13 Wednesday, Morning_

"Gah!" The grunt was chocked and gurgled as the volleyball player known as Mishima fell to the floor on his back, his body sliding back. The volleyball went 'pang-pang-pang' as it bounced away from his face. The young player's face wrinkled as he bared his teeth and his hands went for his cheek, the flesh swelling. The gymnasium, full of students dressed in the red gym uniform went silent as their cheers was caught in their throats watching the young student squirmed on the floor. Kamoshida bounced on his feet, his face covered in sweat and his right hand stinging from his earlier spike. The man looked down at the fallen student, his mouth twisting down, eyes rolling as he walked forward and raised the net that separated his team from the student's.

Reaching Mishima, he knelt beside the boy and looked down at him. After a few seconds he let his eyes wander to the silent students and raised his voice. "Hey, can someone take him to the nurse's office?"

"Ah…we'll do it Kamoshida-sensei!" Two male students from the crowd came forward fidgeting. When the man nodded at them they nodded at eachother with grins, kneeling and taking the downed student away from the playing-field. The teacher watched as the young man was taken away from the corner of his eyes and let a silent scoff escape his lips. He turned towards the crowd and grinned.

"Let's start the next round!"

In an instant the Volleyball Rally was revitalized once more, as everyone started cheering and hollering. The scene with the injured student was quickly forgotten under the promise of more entertainment.

Shirou leaned backwards, his back pressing against the wall and raised his left foot to press against it as he crossed his arms. His gym outfit was zipped up to his collar and comfortably hugging his body, craning his next downwards to hide his bare teeth at the scene he had witnessed. His eyes tracked Kamoshida move in towards his group, adult colleagues the man knew. They were high-fiving and praising the teacher for his performance with laughs and grins.

Their laughs made Shirou bite down hard and clench his jaw at the clear one-sided win streak they were having from the very start, leaving the score the same for the past few teams who competed against the man.

 _…A rally should be about the entire student body experiencing and supporting the volleyball team that will be competing…not about a single teacher showboating…_

His nose wrinkled as his eyes wander over towards Suzui. She was on the other side of the gym, her back turned towards him as she talked with other female volleyball players. The girl looked down, her head turning in the direction of a distracted blonde—Takamaki. Suzui looked away quickly, biting her lip and clenching her left hand on her right forearm.

The girl took a shuddering breath—and turned towards him.

Their eyes met and Shirou flinched as he watched her trembling and glazed over eyes.

 _…Saying not to be afraid is easy…but it's so hard not being afraid when faced with impossible odds Emiya-san…_

His eyes narrowed as he saw the girl flinched when she got called to come and faced Kamoshida. The girl looked away from him and watched the other girls, they looked down, bit their lips and swayed from left to right. Shiho said something and the girls took deep breaths and nodded. They walked towards their positions to play. All the girls shook as they did some stretches, they looked at each other again and nodded. They were ready to begin the new round against the adults' team.

Kamoshida eyes shone brightly at the actions of the girls, his lips spread wide as he grinned.

"Let's go!"

The 'game' started.

 _…Saying not to be afraid is easy…_

One of Kamoshida's colleague bump the ball and the teacher jumped high, grinning widely. The girls tensed as the man let his right arm pulled back, and then slammed it down to spike the ball. 'BANG!' the sound was loud and made the girls flinched as the ball sail past them and towards the floor, scoring a point. Kamoshida landed on the floor, grinning with sweat rolling down his face. He bounced on his feet and called for another ball.

The game continued, a repeat of the first round. The girls were overwhelmed—tripping and unable to fight back against the teacher as he sent strong spikes and without holding back. Suzui herself held off better than the others, as a ball was spike towards her she intercepted it, keeping it in the air—but the other girls were flustered and not willing to fight back.

 _…but it's so hard not being afraid when faced with impossible odds Emiya-san…_

The adults all laughed and applauded amongst themselves as they scored more and more points. The girls all looked down, shoulders sagging as they took a step back. Suzui bit her lip, hands clenched and trembling as she bowed her head.

"Let's go girls! You can do better than that! Once more!" Kamoshida called out, idly spinning the volleyball in his hands with a grin. Suzui sighed and looked away, her shoulders sagging and eyes glazing over —

"Come on Shiho!" Everyone in the gymnasium flinched, surprised by the sudden and loud cry. They all turned towards the blonde female student, Takamki, as she stood and pumped a fist up in the air. "You can do it!"

Shirou watched with wide eyes and a slightly agape mouth at the cheering display with some. The dark hair girl's chest swelled up as she took a deep breath, her eyes watering and a shaky smile spreading on her lips.

"What the hell is up with Takamaki?"

"She just wants to grab everyone's attention, like she always does."

"I bet she is just doing it to get Kamoshida jealous!"

"Oh that's right, their dating! Geez, what a bitch! Can't she see how much effort Kamoshida has been putting in here!?"

Suzui's smile sagged, her eyes wide and darting from left to right. She looked around at the students as they pointed, mutter amongst themselves and looked at the girl with sneering lips. The girl looked down and gritted her teeth.

 _…I don't want Ann degrading herself for me…_

Shirou's eyes widened, the image of Suzui's shade coming to mind. His lips curled down, his canine teeth showing as he glared at the teacher. He was smart enough to understand the girl's shades implications.

The very thought made him sick to his stomach.

He let his eyes flicker towards Suzui, biting down on his lip. He blinked and his eyes widened as he saw Suzui's eyes.

Her eyes were bright and focused entirely on Takamaki. She bowed her head, left hand grasping on her school sweater and breathing deeply. She looked up, her flickering towards him. He blinked a couple of times as the two locked gazes, then the girl's lips pulled up into a smile. Shirou gulped deeply, the sound of the saliva traveling down his throat loud to his ears. She turned away from him and stood defiantly towards the teacher as he tapped his foot. Kamoshida raised an eyebrow, lips purse as he met Suzui's glare and then he bare his teeth when the girl turned away from him.

"Let's go guys! Let's show them what we can do!" Suzui said loudly as she looked at her teammates, bobbing her as she said quieter words to the girls. They looked at Suzui with wide eyes, sending Kamoshida shaky looks—but a few seconds later they nodded and send a few smiles towards Suzui. They turned towards Kamoshida, tensed and knees bent.

"Ready?" Kamoshida asked with gritted teeth, then he shrugged and jumped up. He pulled his arm back and got ready to spike the ball.

Shirou leaned forward as he looked intently at dark hair girl. _'Suzui-san are you going to stand up to him…even if you're afraid of him?'_

The ball was spiked and went towards the floor on her side of the field. Suzui crouched and moved, intercepting the ball, bumping it with her arms up into the air. Everyone held their breath as they watched the ball spin in midair, then one of the girl's in Suzui's team jumped and spiked the ball towards the opposing and wide eye team.

The girls scored a point.

The game wasn't one-sided anymore. Kamoshida looked at the ball bounce through the field with wide eyes and a ajar mouth. His mouth clammed shut, teeth gritted tightly and showing as growled vibrated through his throat. He glared at the opposing team, took a deep breath and smiled as he gestured for another ball.

The game continued, but the girls suddenly began to coordinate their movements to follow those of Suzui's. Unlike before, they were working like a cohesive unit capable of staying on par with the adults. They scored points, and while Kamoshida's team was ahead of them by one point the girls weren't losing their streak. Everyone watched with wide eyes at the clear star of the game as Suzui jumped high and spiked the ball with a force greater than anyone on her team was capable of. This caught some of the adults off guard—

Except for Kamoshida, who caught the spike, bumping it to someone on his team and looked back towards the teammate who was about to bump the ball. "Bump it back to me!" His team did so and the ball was back in the air—Kamoshida looked at Suzui with a gritted teeth and he moved.

The Olympic medalist jumped, pulled his armed back with narrowed eyes and he smacked the volleyball down towards Suzui. The ball sailed straight for her face.

Shirou's eyes widened at this, standing straight and tense. From the corner of his eye he caught sight of Takamaki, the blond had her hands over mouth and her eyes were wide.

The ball neared Suzui, but her expression didn't change as she watched the incoming ball with narrowed eyes and lips curled down. Her arms moved—

And set up the incoming ball, one of her teammates looked up, narrowed her eyes and jumped. She spiked the ball down right into the field of the opposing team. Pang—pang-pang, Kamoshida watched the ball bounce away from his feet, his hands cupped together. His eyes widened as he looked at the student keeping score.

The girls had scored the final leading point, winning the game.

There was silence, everyone watching the players with wide eyes. Then the entire gym erupted into cheers as the students applauded the female volleyball team's efforts. Suzui smiled and turned towards Takamaki, whom was jumping up and down with her eyes sparkling and arms waving with emotion. Suzui then looked to her team and nodded, as the girls spoke amongst themselves with smiles and high-fives. Suzui let her eyes wonder towards Shirou and gave him a shaky nod.

Shirou looked at the girl with his mouth ajar, he closed it quickly and smiled. He nodded towards her and clapped his hands loudly.

"Did you see that!?"

"Suzui really was the best player there! She was keeping up with Kamoshida!"

"Hey! You think she'll be the next Kamoshida!?"

"Our school is producing the next gold medalist for sure!"

"This was like watching the passing of a torch!"

Kamoshida gritted his teeth, his chest swelling up as he took a deep breath and looked at the girl with narrowed eyes. He looked back towards his team, sending them a glare as they scratched the back of their heads or looked down and away from the cheering students, the tips of their ears red. His cheek trembled as a smile crossed his face, turned and walked past the net. The student team noticed the man's approach and their shoulders stiffened.

The cheering students cheered louder as the man approached the girls, Takamaki arms paused as her eyes went wide. The teacher reached the opposing team and walked straight for Shiho. He placed his callous right hand on her left shoulder, grinning at her as the girl looked up at him with wide eyes.

"That was magnificently played Suzui-san! You're really putting everything I taught you to good use!" His words were loud and his grin was wide, showing the white of his teeth to everyone. The students all pointed and smiled, muttering amongst themselves about how 'good!'-'great!'-'awesome! Of a teacher he was'. The man grin tightened, emulating the clenching of his hands around Suzui's shoulder. The girl bowed her head, biting her lips as her teammates all looked away. "But I think you've already shown enough to the school, no need to show off!"

The crowd complained about the good show being taken away from them, but Kamoshida turned to them with smiles and waves. "Let's take a short break from the rally, okay!" At that the students began to move, all of them heading for the exit of the gym. The man turned towards the other girls in Suzui's team and glared at them, they quickly scattered along with the crowd. His eyes flickered towards Suzui and leaned closed towards her, muttering something towards her.

Shirou moved from his spot, trying to get close to them but the crowd of students moving for the exit prevented this. Despite the setback, his ears perked up as heard the tail end of Kamoshida's words .

"—we seriously need to have a good discussion about your performance…"

Shirou's eyes narrowed at the subtle threat.

 _…but it's so hard not being afraid when faced with impossible odds Emiya-san…_

His decision was made as he came to an understanding—damning even the consequences.

 _… But remember for what you're fighting for, for your mother, for Sella, for Leysritt. For Illya…_

He understood perfectly that he had a duty to fulfill towards his family.

 _… if you disobey me once more…the Association will be more than willing to carry out their promise…_

He understood perfectly that he shouldn't defy Forte or the Association or her faction or whatever.

 _… Mere goodness can achieve little against the power of nature…_

He understood perfectly just how powerless he was.

But…

How could he possibly ignore this?

A girl that was so desperately in need for help.

A girl who was hurting.

Could he truly ignore this and simply focus on the safety of his own family?

Could he do so while he knew he had the power to stop this?

The answer was simple, just as simple as it had been that faithful day.

No.

And he would be there to save that girl.

His eyes narrowed as he watched Kamoshida use his tall and bulky buddy to push the students away as he dragged Suzui towards the exit.

 _'…I will stop this!'_

He marched forward trying to clear a path through the crowd of students exiting, but finding it difficult. He gritted his teeth as a male student pushed him to the right and he sent a glare his way as the male teen ducked his head and moved. Shirou shook his head and snapped his gaze up just as Suzui's back disappeared alongside Kamoshida through the gym's exit as the crowd of students filled the space the teacher made. He clicked his tongue and kept his gaze focus on the distinctive curly hair of Kamoshida, seeing the man grow smaller and smaller as he got further away. The man took a left and disappeared fully from his vision.

Shirou glared forward, now knowing where the teacher was heading. he began to push against the crowd in front of him to get out. It was two minutes later that he got out. He took long steps as he made it to the club building and entered. He stopped as he looked left and right, biting his lips as he furrowed his brow.

 _'…he would've taken her to his office…'_

His head turned towards the stairs on his left. He narrowed his eyes and jogged towards them, reaching them, he ran up the stairs. Reaching the top, he looked towards his right and moved down the hall until he reached the familiar area of Kamoshida's office. He jogged in front of the door, glaring at it with his chest heaving from his movement he clenched his fist, raised it up and then slammed it down. The loud 'bang-bang-bang-bang!' went off as he pounded his fist on the door.

"Hey!" He gritted his teeth, eyebrows dropping as he bared his teeth, he slammed his fist down one final time as no answer came from beyond the door. He frowned, leaning back as his eyes darted up and down. He bit his lips and leaned forward pressing his ears against the door and closed his eyes. The continuous sound of 'fwooor!' was the only thing he heard and his jaw clenched, recognizing the sound to be coming from the air conditioner he had fixed. He leaned back, pressing his forehead against the door with a raised eyebrow. "Where are they…?"

He stepped back and away from Kamoshida's office door, tilting his head towards the right to look at the hall fill with students talking amongst each other. They rambled about the rally as they moved thought the halls. His left canine tooth bit down on the corner of his lip, looking down with shaky eyes. He began to move, looking through each classroom. _'…I have to hurry…'_

"Damn, that was such a good game!"

"Yeah, Kamoshida's spikes are amazing!"

"Seriously, the guy doesn't have much control does he…I mean, look at Mishima."

"That game was pretty intense."

"It was real one-sided though…"

"Yeah, but Suzui really was above and beyond out there!"

"She'll probably surpassed Kamoshida if she keeps practicing right?"

Shirou eyes narrowed at the chatter as he moved forward, looking through the glass window at each club classroom. He clicked his tongue when he reached the final classroom, sweat tickled down his forehead as he looked back down the hall to where he had been. His heart beat hard on his chest and he looked at the other set of stairs that would lead him up to the third floor. He burst forward and just ran, his feet jumping two or three steps in the stairs as he quickly made his way up.

In his haste, he crashed into a big, hard, wet and muscular chest.

"Whoah there Emiya!" Shirou recoiled back, stomping his foot down hard on the floor when he felt he was going to fall backwards. He looked quickly to see the stairs behind him and snapped his gaze back towards Kamoshida who looked down at him with a raised eyebrow and squinting eyes. The man's expression softened and he gave Shirou a shaky grin, placing a red bruised right hand on left his shoulder. "You got a really scary focused face there kiddo. But try and be more careful, okay?"

"…" He looked at Kamoshida's bruised hand, his eyes widened and his throat constricted, not allowing the air to escape. His hands clenched tightly, nails digging into his palms as his eyes roamed the man's hand, forearm, bicep, shoulder, neck and finally towards his face. The teacher raised an eyebrow, his grin dropping as his hand tightened around Shirou's shoulder.

"Well? Aren't you going to answer, Emiya? It's rather rude."

Clenching his jaw and looking down, Shirou bobbed his head up and down. "Sorry…"

 _'I can't waste time here…acting out against Kamoshida is foolish, I need to focus on getting to Suzui.'_ His eyes wandered towards the stairs on his right, the ones the teacher had descended from. Kamoshida grunted at his response, shrugged his shoulders, let go of him and stepped around him..

"Well I hope to see you back at the rally kid, I'm actually curious to see if you can play volleyball. You got the build for it." The teacher began to descend the stairs, then stopped and turned towards him with a grin. "Oh yeah, don't go up to the roof, there's a…uh, pretty and stinking thing up there. Okay?"

"Don't worry Kamoshida-sensei…I was just trying to get to the library." The man looked at him with raised eyebrows. Shirou bit the inside of his cheeks as he looked back at Kamoshida with a level gaze. "There's to many people jamming the school building."

"Ah! Okay, okay! Well good luck!" The man turned and continued to go down the steps. The very moment the teacher was fully out of sight, Shirou burst forward and quickly climbed the final set of stairs. He was met with the door that lead to the rooftop and slammed it open with his shoulder. The fresh spring wind hit his skin, sending a shiver up his spine as the cool air met his sweat coated body. He narrowed his eyes and looked around, his ears perking up for sound.

He found it, the sound of someone sobbing.

Pursing his lips, a shaky breath escaped him as he used the red gym jacket to dry his sweaty forehead. He looked at the crying girl sagging eyes and walked towards her. With each step a sense of frustration and failure blossomed into his heart. He stopped right in front of an old desk, the floor showing scrapes underneath the desk legs. A pile of chairs thrown haphazardly, pieces of wood broken and splintered on the ground. He narrowed his eyes, walking around the pile and finally reaching the source of the sobbing.

Suzui was curled up in a ball, knees up to her chest and her face buried into her forearms as her body trembled. Her clothes were dirty and ripped, her hair was in disarray and her usual ponytail was missing letting her dark hair cascade over her shoulders.

Shirou looked down at the crying, and then looked away.

He had failed.

He had failed to save her.

"I…I can't take it anymore…I…I just want it stop…why can't he leave me alone…I don't want him to hit me anymore…"

His eyes widened and his shoulder stiffened at her words. His golden brown eyes looked at her with furrowed brows, his lips pulling down.

That was the cry for help he had heard in the Distorted World.

That same cry for help that he had failed to answer.

It made him feel horrible.

"Suzui-san…" Shirou's throat felt dry and it throbbed as he looked away. The girl recoiled, looking up with a reddish swelling left eye. Her eyes looked at him in surprised, giving him a clear view of her bruised right cheek and her cut lip, still red and bleeding. The girl let out a quiet, strangled gasp and bowed her head into her knees while using her arms as a shield. Shirou looked down at the girl and sighed.

"E-Emiya…kun…" Suzui's trembling words made his mouth pulled back, the right side of his face wrinkling and his eyes closing. He took a deep breath.

 _…I can't take it anymore…_

He opened his eyes and a set his lips into a straight line. "That's…that's what he does… he physically abuses you…"

The girl just smiled shakily at him, her glazed over eyes looking at the rooftop floor.

"…that's…that's what happens when you try and stop being afraid of…of…" Another sob escaped her and she bowed her head. Shirou stared at her, his eyes darting to every part of the girl before a breath escaped his nostrils and he walked forward. The girl shrunk as he got closer to her, her hold over her knees tightening as he stood right beside her. He tried to reach out for her, but she began to shake rapidly and he recoiled back, eyes widened and mouth agape. "S-Sorry…sorry…but you shouldn't waste your time helping someone as pathetic as me…okay?"

It was those words that broke whatever hesitation he felt.

Because how could he possibly hesitate after hearing those words?

He clenched his jaw and knelt beside Suzui quickly, the girl shrunk away from him. His eyes stared directly at her as he furrowed his brows and looked away, wondering how to handle this situation. He straightened up his back and reached with his bandaged hand towards her, placing his hand on her shoulder.

 _'Just do this like you would with Illya…'_ His grip tightened slightly around her shoulder and brought her head towards his chest, breaking her out of her ball of comfort. "You're not pathetic Suzui-san…if anything, the pathetic one here is me…I wasn't fast enough to come here and save you."

Suzui raised her tear-stricken face and looked at him with squinted eyes. She shook her head, leaning back with a tearful glare..

"What are…what are you talking about…? Why are you taking all of this so personally…? Why do you…do you want to help me so much!?" She suddenly burst forward, taking his gym uniform jacket with her hands and nearly making the redhead stumble back. His left foot shot back and kept him balance, letting his eyes meet the bright ones from Shiho as tightened her hold on him and gritted teeth. Barely a second later she deflated as she let go of him. "All I'm good for…is volleyball…you don't gain anything from helping me…"

Shirou looked at her quietly, then he shook his head and clicked his tongue as he stood up. "You're an idiot Suzui-san."

"Huh…?" The girl looked at him with a raised eyebrow, then her eyes widened as she looked down at the floor with new tears in her eyes. She licked her bloody lip, winced and shakily grasped her sweater with both her hands right above her left breast. "I-I'm sorry Emiya-ku—!"

"I wanted to help you. That's all." Suzui's eyes snapped towards Shirou's and she recoiled back when she saw him offering her his right hand. He let a small smile appear on his face as his eyes sagged. "I told you that before, didn't I? Helping someone in need…saving them from their troubles isn't wrong either. That's why I dislike seeing people cry…especially you."

"Emiya…kun…" Suzui looked at him with wide eyes. He kept his hand in place as he looked away with narrowed eyes.

"I told myself that I would help you, that's why I kept butting in without any consideration for your feelings." He scratched his cheek with his left bandaged hand and clicked his tongue. "But even though I kept saying I would help you…I failed. So really, the only person here who's pretty pathetic is me, rig—gah!"

He took a step back, blinking rapidly as he felt strong arms wrapped around his body. He looked down at Suzui and saw her bruised face buried deep into his red uniform. He slowly enclosed his arms around her, tightening the hug while he patted her back with his bandaged hand. She shook, audible sobbing reached his hears and he sighed as he let her continue.

Six minutes passed and hiccupping, she leaned back but still kept her arms on his body. Her head was bowed as she brought her right arm back and rubbed her wrist over her wet cheeks.

"…you're not pathetic… how could you be...? When you've tried so hard to help me…"

Shirou hummed when he heard this, giving the girl a small smile and turning away. "Idiot, you should listen to what you're saying and take it to heart then. Stop beating yourself up for things like this."

"…" Suzui looked down, chewing on her lip and nodding a couple of times, her dark hair bouncing with the motion.

"Want to leave the rooftop?" The girl nodded at his question again, he pulled away from her hug. Suzui stumbled forward a little, but caught herself and leaned back holding her right bicep with her left hand. Shirou pulled his jacket off and handed it to her, the girl looked up at him in surprise. "So that no one has to see you're bruise face…I just thought it would at least save some dignity for you."

She gazed at the red jacket, a smile spread through her face—then she winced and dropped the smile.

"Thank you…" She took the jacket with both hands and pulled it over her head like a make-shift hood. "…if you weren't here, I think I would have been forced to stay up here until everyone left the school…"

"At least I was helpful with something…" He offered his right hand to help guide her. She looked at him underneath her makeshift hood with sagging eyes, Shirou froze for a second. He opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong—

"Don't sell yourself so short, Emiya-kun."

Shirou stopped, looked down and immediately looked back at her when he felt soft hands wrapping around his. The girl smiled and Shirou let out a small breath escaped through his nostrils. The two moved, descending from the stairs and moving cautiously through the halls of the school as they headed away from the school/

Unbeknownst to them, a certain frizzy haired transfer student was watching their movements with intense curiosity.

.

.

.

.

* * *

"Here you go Suzui-san." Shirou moved towards the girl who leaned back against the dark alley walls and offered her a can of grape flavored soda. Suzui smiled, muttering a quiet 'thanks' as she took the drink with shaky hands. She opened her drink softly, the sound of 'PTSSS!' went off and the girl's nostril was hit with the smell of sugar and grape. Idly her finger passed over the edge of her soda, wetting her fingers as she looked at the liquid through the hole of her can.

"Are you sure it's okay for you to skip out on the rally, Emiya-kun?"

"Don't worry about it…" Shirou gave her a small smile as he opened his own orange flavored soda without looking and took a drink. He kept his eyes focused on the girl, raising an eyebrow when she pursed her lips and looked down with sagged eyes.

"You could get in trouble though."

"I would get into even more trouble if I were to see Kamoshida's face…" He took another sip from his soda. "I don't think I would be able to hold myself back from doing something stupid."

"Oh…"

"What about you?" She looked up at him with a raised eyebrow and he continued. "Your friend, Takamaki, she was looking around for you while we were coming here. She even looked quite distressed."

Suzui looked away, biting her lips and shaking her head.. "I… I'm a horrible friend…even though I'm hurting… I've been ignoring that she's been going through some humiliating situations."

"Suzui-san…" He started, his tone reminding him whenever Illya was beating herself up over something and he was there to help her.

"No…I've…I've been horrible…" Suzui rubbed the side of her can soda, staring at it blankly. A soft sigh escaped her lip as her eyes went back to stare at his. "I've…have you heard of the rumors? The ones about Ann going out on dates with Kamoshida?"

"Yeah, but I assume they're all lies."

"Well…not entirely." When he raised an eyebrow at her, she carried on. "Ann…she's been putting herself on the line for me…even though she doesn't think I haven't noticed or that I would notice…she's done her best to try and make my life as a volleyball player as comfortable and as easy as possible…even at her own expense. So…when Kamoshida told her…"

"Told her what?" Shirou felt his stomach churned, face wrinkling at the implications.

"He told her that if the two started dating, then he would let me become the star player of the team and…and that he would ease up in our training."

"That's…" His opinion of the teacher lowered even further by that single admittance. Suzui nodded and took another sip of her soda.

"Yeah…I…I always knew…rumors in this school don't exactly stay in one place…so I found out immediately after word got out. It put a huge amount of pressure on Ann…until she had no choice but to accept whenever he asked her out or told her to come with him for rides in his car…I actually think that he was the one that started spreading the rumor…it wouldn't be the first time he did something like that."

Shiro's jaw clenched, eyes slanting down. "Why hasn't anyone done anything about it?"

Suzui let a shuddering breath and gave him a shaky smile. "The school thinks he is too important…anyone who has tried to raise any complaints against him were immediately silenced or ignored. And those who tried to speak up against Kamoshida tend to be ostracized or sometimes suspended for supposed misconduct or even ludicrous accusations from Kamoshida…that tends to be enough of a message for people who stood against him to know not to mess with him. It doesn't help that he is a very strong and fit man…and he's already shown off what happens if you try and get violent with him. Sakamoto-kun, he used to be a part of the now disbanded track team…and well, after he got physical with Kamoshida…Kamoshida broke his leg…in self-defense he says…"

"…" Shirou just stared at the girl, his teeth biting down on his cheeks hard and tasting the metallic taste of blood passing though his tongue. Suzui's eyes dropped towards his hand and she moved her right hand towards the pocket in her school uniform skirt, pulling out a thin, pink napkin.

"Here." He blinked and looked down at the offered object. He blinked a couple of times when he felt his right hand being wet and sticky, looking down at his own hand he noticed the can was tightly crushed under his fist and his skin was drenched with what was left of the soda. He grunted, letting the can fall to the floor, 'katin-kin-tin-kin-tin!' the sound of the can bouncing echoed through the alley as he took the offered napkin and cleaned his hands. He looked up at the smilling girl.

"Sorry…it's just…"

"Unfair?" Suzui finished his sentence as she tilted her head to the side. "…yeah, it's tough going up against a teacher. I wanted…want, to help Ann…but how can I do that when in the end…it won't even matter…"

 _… Mere goodness can achieve little against the power of nature…_

Shirou eyebrows slanted and he looked at the girl. "Even in a school something like that can happen…huh…I guess we're somewhat similar like that."

"Similar?" Suzui's words brought him out of his thoughts as he snapped back into attention and found the female student looking at him with an eyebrow raised. "Emiya-kun…are you, going through something like this too?"

He really wanted to smack himself in the head for his slip up. Scratching his cheek he wondered how to fix this. He could deny it, but it wouldn't help Suzui with her troubles if he opted with this route. Looking at the girls eyes, he bit his lower lip and chewed on it as he tried to come up with something. His right hand skimmed over his gym trousers pocket, feeling the indentation of his phone—he stopped as an idea formed up. While he couldn't tell her the truth, he could tell her part of it and use this opportunity to help the girl out. He wasn't good at giving motivating speeches, but as an older brother he was good at giving advice to troubled girls.

He pulled out his phone, his fingers tapping to unlock the screen, tap the photo gallery app and scrolled down to choose a picture. He found it, clicked it and nodded to himself, he looked at Suzui and offered her his phone to her. The girl hummed and raised her eyebrow further up as she took the phone and looked the picture.

"What…?" In front of her was a selfie image of six people—in the middle was Shirou and Illya, his hands on her shoulder as the two look up at the camera. Beside the two kneeling was Sella and Leysritt, Illya's hands on one of their shoulders. Behind the four was Kiritsugu and Irisviel, the mother of the family hugging Shirou with one arm as she gave peace sign to the camera—the father stood with his hand ruffling the redhead's hair as he held the camera with his free hand.

"It's a photo me and my family took a week before…a situation changed everything." Shirou explained as best he could, making sure to mitigate every important detail. He wanted to give the girl a message so that she wouldn't feel bad anymore—not get her into trouble.

"A situation…? What was it?"

"I'm not going to say…it's just…" He trailed off as he tried to find the correct words without outright lying—he chose to try at his first attempt to tell half-truths. "It's a personal matter that affected my parents, me saying would be like destroying their trust and it could get them into trouble if word got out I told you."

"It's fine…" Suzui smiled at him shakily. "You don't have to say."

"No!" The two flinched and stared at each other widened eyes. Shirou leaned back, coughed into his right hand as he felt his face grow hot. He was blushing, he was sure of it. "It isn't that…I'll try my best to tell you what I wanted to say…without—urgh! This was so much easier with Illya…"

She smiled at his fumbling as she looked back at the image, her eyes focused on the younger girl. "That's your sister right...?"

"Haah…yeah, but listen Suzui." The red in his face disappear as he looked at the girl with a focused gaze. "My family is going through a tough time…and I'm the only one who can fix it."

"Is that why you transferred here? To fix this problem?"

"... For the most part, yes. But…" This was going to get tricky, his past frustrations would most likely bubble out if he wasn't careful. "Things have been rough…very rough, and the livelihood of my family has changed…if I'm not careful, then everything could be ruined. I'm their last chance…their last shot so that they can live a happy life."

Suzui's mouth opened slightly as she furrowed her brows.. "Emiya-kun…"

"What I'm trying to say is…don't give up. Even if it seems unfair…don't let yourself get run over by the circumstances…it may seem tough, but as long as you have someone you want to save…it doesn't matter how impossible the odds seem, because…even mere goodness can achieve something, right?" He felt like such a hypocrite saying those words. How could he possibly say that, when he let himself get yanked back and forth by the mages and Forte? When he wasn't strong enough to affect anything? But—

The girl giggled a little and nodded. "Right…"

He smiled at her bright eyes and felt his hypocritical feelings give way. "And if you feel like you can't do it…then you can rely on me. I'm a meddlesome person, always getting into things that I shouldn't get involve in because—!"

"You just want to help…I know." Suzui smiled and nodded at him. "I…I think I'll take you up on that offer…I really would need to rely on someone to help me get things back in order…to make it up for Ann…"

"Then if you would have me, I'll try and not be so much of a failure next time."

"Hehe, trust me…you aren't a failure." She looked towards the school, her gaze glazing over as she stared at the building. "I wonder if two lowly students can make much of a difference with the perverted king of that castle…"

Shirou opened his mouth to respond sarcastically, but froze—a sensation burned on his left hand, beneath the bandages. He looked at it and his eyes went wide as he saw a faint red glow through the bindings.

One of Suzui's words had resonated with the Distorted Marker, the word—Perverted…Castle. Those two words echoed distantly, as if slowly disappearing from his grasp if he wasn't fast enough. He pulled his left hand behind him, clenching it tightly and feeling the bandage stretch at the effort. He needed to test the validity of this. While the girl looked at the school, he would—

"Trace…on…" Under his breath he muttered the phrase which casted a self-hypnosis on him—turning him into a magus. His magical circuits roared with vigor and flooded his left arm, making the Distorted Marker in his hand glow brightly as the word hit a mark. Now all he needed to do was confirm the name of Kamoshida by muttering it and see if this connected with the teacher. If it did then he would have to find a way to get Suzui to go away, so he could go into the Distorted Marble.

Then he would have a few words with the man's true self.

He got ready to mutter the man's name and—

"It's horrible how Kamoshida sees Shujin as his castle though…" Suzui spoke and this made Shirou stiffened as the Marker in his hand burned even hotter. The girl turned towards him with her lip pulled up, teeth showing as she wrinkled her nose and narrowed her eyes. "Especially after what that pervert wanted to do with Ann…!"

Shirou could only stare at the girl with his mouth agape as his hand felt as if it were on fire.

She had just said all the phrases needed to get into the Distorted World of someone without even trying. She did all of this while his circuits were active and enabling the activation process of the Marker.

His eyes widened at the thought. _'I was careless!'_

Green circuits spread around him, circulating his left arm all, neck and left side of his face. The Marker burned bright red and illuminated his behind, Suzui flinched back at the sudden glowing marks on his skin and the red light emanating from the back of his hand. He looked at his bandaged hand with wide eyes as his jaw fell open. He immediately grabbed his left forearm with a hard grip. "D-Damn—! Now!?"

"Emiy—! What's going on!?" Suzui's voice made him turned towards her and saw the girl look at his hand and face in paid succession as she stepped towards him with trembling eyes. He tried to take a step back.

"Get away from m—!"

"Wh—!?"

…

Silence.

The alleyway neared the school entrance was empty once more as Shirou Emiya and Shiho Suzui both disappeared from the real world.

* * *

 **Beta: Crossovernaru**

* * *

 **Author's Note  
**

 **Hello there, it's been two weeks since the last chapter! Sorry about that, but life and college have taken to eating away at much of my free time and I saw it fit to postpone this chapter. I could've send the chapter at any given moment, but I wanted to fix thing and add some things. But enough about that, this chapter is the first step towards ending the setup from the last couple of chapter. Last chapter set up a lot of future plot points, but this chapter as taken the Shiho and Shirou thread and will run with it. If you read the original version of the story then you can probably guess what will come after that wonderful cliffhanger.**

 **Though, you may have noticed the deviation I've already taken from the original Oath as I excluded a certain blonde from tagging along.**

 **Anyway, that's it for this week. I hope all you who live on the coast or in the Caribbean islands will be safe this Hurricane Season. Take care and don't underestimate the power of nature, its no joke.**

 **Until next time, adios!**


	7. Stand Up! Don't You Want to Save Her?

**_**Arc 1: Welcome to Shibuya**_**

 _4/13 Wednesday ?_

The smell that went through Shirou's nostril made him wrinkled his nose, lips pulling down and eyes scrunched tight. With his eyes closed he could tell that the smell wasn't something normal people would've been capable of picking up. The stink had a surreal feeling to it, it hit his 'other' sense and made him realize that the smell was laced with magic. In the real world he had discovered that he could smell the ozone changing whenever a magus started to use magecraft around him. It wasn't anything impressive as he could pick up only a single scent and if he wasn't aware of anything magical happening, then he would simply ignore it.

But in the Distorted World it was much more potent.

He opened his eyes, nose creased up and he felt his throat tightening. There was a scent of roses combined with a strong odor of sweaty musk, this was accompanied by the stink of lubricant. But worse of all was the reeked of rotting flesh and blood, it was as if the smell rolled off like waves and crashed into him.

He shook his head and looked up, his eyes broaden by a fraction and he took a step back. A large and wide castle was in placed of the school building, it was grey and roughly made. Large spotlights highlighted in pinkish colors hid away these facts under pretenses. The cloudy red sky swirled around the castle's tower, as if it was the center of the whole world.

The Distorted World of Kamoshida—his world.

"So this…this is what he sees the school as…" Shirou righted himself and narrowed his eyes. "How fitting…"

"W-What's going on!?" Suzui's voice made him flinch, turning his head towards her. He looked at the girl as she walked away from the alleyway they had been and closer to the castle. Her steps were light, body arching back as she looked at the large structure, her hands trembled tightly as she held his phone. She turned towards him with shaking eyes. "Emiya! What is this!?"

 _'Damn it! I dragged her here!'_ He bared his teeth as he saw the girl's wide and wet eyes—

This was just the worse possible outcome. An innocent person had been dragged into a world she shouldn't have any part of. He ground his teeth tightly, eyebrows narrowing as a cold sweat roll down his cheek. He focused on the shaking girl, noticing her pupils dilating.

If Forte found out that Suzui was pulled alongside him into this world then she would be killed. Alongside his family and the same with hers, the same for his own mind but that wasn't important. He took a step towards, he needed to calm her down.

He walked slowly towards her, raising his hands up to his chest, palms opened wide. The girl backed away slowly, bringing her hands and his phone closed to her chest as she looked at him with narrowed eyes. The girl's feet touched the wooden bridge that allowed for access to the castle.

"Suzui-san, easy…take it easy. I'll explain everything, just tak—!"

BOOM! KRASH!

Both teenagers flinched, Shirou's eyes flared when the wall behind her collapse. Through the smoke and debris, something disgusting, slimy and writhing moved like lightning, it wrapped around Suzui's body so fast that she barely even blinked.

"Wha—!?" The girl trailed off as she saw it, a massive tentacle—it's width being comparable a person's torso—enveloped her torso roughly. It was wet, expanding and shrinking back to normal as if it were breathing. The appendage looked like an octopus tentacle, but colored purplish black and with yellow highlights. Spiky bits stabbed into Suzui's flesh as numb and soft face, mouth hanging opened and eyes nearly popping out of her skull.

And before he even had the chance to scream for her the tentacle retracted itself. It went back to the castle.

"SUZUI!"

She was going to die!

She was going to die!

She was going to die!

She was going to die—! She was about to be dragged into that castle and be torn apart! An innocent bystander was going to die because of him.

She was going to die…

 ** _"…and there's nothing you can do, right? This is beyond you, correct?"_**

 _'OF COURSE NOT!'_

He gritted his teeth, his eyes focused on Suzui's, her eyes wide and full of fear. Her eyes pleaded with him, begging for him to do something.

 _'There's nothing I could do…?'_

He raised his right foot and launched it forward, prepared to take his first step. This was his first step to answer Suzui's call.

"AAAAAAAAIIH!" Suzui cried out as she was dragged back to one of the opened doors in the entrance of the castle.

 _'This is beyond me…!?'_

His right foot slammed roughly against the street pavement, cracking under its pressure and tearing it apart. He could feel the impact deep into his bones, the stinging sensation of the kinetic force traveling all throughout his body, the shocking pain of his bones cracking and breaking— he ignored it. There was no time to waste with such a trivial matter.

He propelled himself forward, using the force and pain as fueled.

"I WILL SAVE YOU!"

In a single step, he had crossed twenty meters.

In a single moment, his body lit into azure flames.

In a single cry—Suzui looked at him with hope in her eyes.

Bursting from the blue fire, he was empowered by his attire in the distorted world. With a second step he made it to the castle's massive entrance door just as the tentacle holding Suzui twisted and turned to enter the castle proper. The two doors leading into the inside of the castle slammed shut by themselves, as if acknowledging him as an intruder. They would not allow for him to enter, sealing him away.

"As if I give a damn!" Two swords burst in a green electrical explosion into Shirou's awaiting hands, Kanshou and Bakuya answered his call and clenched his hands around them. Like lightning he slammed into the massive doors and twisted. White and black slashes ran into the doors until they were cut into ribbons, exploding into splinters as he charged through the destruction.

He slid through the beautifully polish and clean tile floor, body low, metal boots grinding along the floor and leaving a mark. A second later the splinters he had passed through flew by him, dirtying the floor. He looked and saw the castle entrance, for a second, he narrowed his eyes as he how the lobby truly befitted Kamoshida.

 _'Gaudy and disgusting—!'_

"EMIY—!" His eyes snapped to his right, just in time to see Suzui be dragged away by the tentacle into another door. The girl disappeared through the dark door and he swerved his sliding to take after her, but at the moment he took his first step black and red substance flooded the front of the door the girl had been taken through. In less than a moment the substance exploded, revealing seven silver knights. Their cold and expressionless faces turned towards him. One of them, the one closest to him raised his sword in warning.

"How dare you enter king Kamosh—GahhhahrYAH!"

He didn't even finished as a red and black blurred barreled into him. Shirou digging his blades into the knight, gritted his teeth as the two fell onto the floor. Before the knight's armored hit the tile floor, he was sliced him into two when Shirou rolled away from him and right into the middle of the crowd of knights. The other of the knights flinched at the violent displayed and moved to take him down, all of them raising their swords. But—

"You're—!" Recovering from his rolled in a blink of an eye, he planted his feet down on the floor cracking it, using his forward momentum to twist his body as he held Kanshou and Bakuya crossed before him he spun in place. His eyes flashed, his mask disappearing as a pillar of blue fire erupted from him, knocking the knights off balance. "—IN THE WAY!"

Letting go, he became a hurricane.

Black and white.

Yin and Yang.

Kanshou and Bakuya.

They cut through the knights like wet tissue paper, their severed body pieces spun in air as Shirou burst forward in one single, fluid movement and went through the door Suzui was taken into. The 'clank-clank-clank!' of the destroyed armor pieces was completely ignored as Shirou moved.

There was no time to look back. His body was a storm with no equal and no stopping. He sprinted down the stairs, bursting into some dungeon with strong currents of water cascading all around. He dug his heels on the ground to stop himself from falling into the current of water right in front of the entrance. He looked around and saw that there were cells all around, mostly empty—but he ignored all of that as he saw Suzui being dragged still deeper into the dungeon. With his teeth bared he gave chase.

He was fluid like water and sharp as his blades with his movement as he jumped all over the dungeon in pursuit for Suzui. His eyes were focused on the girl's own, everything else was inconsequential. Enemy knights attempted to stop him, but they were cut down before they could even act as he blitzed passed them. Obstacles were jumped over or even ignored as he crashed into them without care. He ran with reckless abandon as he continued to chase after the tentacle and Suzui, going further down the dungeon.

His only objective was securing Suzui to safety.

The tentacle twisted and entered into a giant darken cell. Shirou stabbed his blade into the floor to drift into the cell without stopping—but…

"Ghk—!?" His feet stepped onto something wet and slippery, nearly losing his balance he planted his feet down on the wet floor and felt the liquid splatter onto his body. Skidding to a stop, he wobbled a little from left to right. He kept his eyes on the capture Suzui until she came to a stop in mid-air, the quivering tentacle swayed from side to side hypnotically. His eyebrows went down, eyes narrowing as he took a step forward. From underneath were Suzui was a red light snapped into existence and illuminated the area.

Shirou took another step forward, and stopped when he noticed his now illuminated surroundings.

Corpses. Corpses. And even more corpses filled the darken red area.

All of the corpses and the redness of all the blood bathed every inch of the floor, walls, roof. The corpses themselves were bright red and exuded so much blood that the room had sunken with the amount of gore present. His ears picked up a noise, 'Schlk! Krsh! Schlk! Schlk! Krsh! Schlk!' —he turned his head to look at the direction of the noise and—

"Wh—WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!?" Suzui's loud scream wasn't even loud enough to drown out the munching and squelching sounds surrounding them.

Wriggling and munching around were aquatic looking creatures, they all filled the room as they ate with careless abandon on the corpses. The creatures, blacked like the tentacle holding Suzui hostage and standing on their numerous tentacles leaned forward, using their limbs grasped and pushed away other monster to gobble big portions of their meals with the oval mouth and innumerous sharp teeth. It was a horror show, monsters through and through—enough to induce insanity at the revolting sight.

He froze as at that moment, his brain caught on with the moment—and all his senses exploded.

The stench of blood and decay assaulted his nose.

The touch of thick liquid and raw meat under his boots.

The taste of the horrors that had managed to slip into his mouth as the monsters greedily ate.

It was enough to want to make him wretch.

But, he couldn't afford to that—his eyes focused on the shaking and pale Suzui. The girl looked like catatonic patient as her eyes stared at the horror show.

"Suzui-san." He called out loudly and with enough force that the girl look into his golden brown eyes. Even though her gaze was shaky and unfocused, he could tell she was listening. So he took a step forward and gave a strained smile. "Don't worry, I'll save you."

Her shaky gaze focused on him, she looked at him with wet and tearful eyes. He leaned forward and got ready to charge, eyes focused on the girl. 'Bulbl-bulbl-bulbl!' the noise made Shirou stop, eyes narrowing as the hairs on the back of his neck stood straight.

Following the sound, he saw the bloody river bubbling beneath Suzui—within moments, a man ascended from the gore. Dressed in garments that were odd and queer, his luxurious robe was of ancient design with sanguineous scarlet patterns that adorned the pitch-black fabric. The dyed crimson red on the cloth looked more like stains of blood than just any design choice, the smell helped confirmed that point. The figure stood atop one of the aquatic monstrosity—it looked as if he had crawled out from its mouth but his robe obscure the visual image. However, despite the show of standing on top the creature it was obvious that the man was incredibly tall with two pale muscle arms that stuck out of his cloths.

His features were dreadful, unhealthy pale, like a corpse. But his large and bulging eyes told a different story. They stared down with freakish focus at Suzui above, as worshiping her with a child-like glee. The girl recoiled back in horror at the intense gaze. For the man, he took great pleasure in that reaction.

Shirou's eyes went wide at this—because he felt something from that 'man'. And it was that man wasn't man—but a Servant.

Servants, powerful familiars controlled by Masters during a Holy Grail War via Command Spells, the Master's right to rule. It was supposedly the only place a Servant would appear, after all, Servants were Heroic Spirits, beings cut off from the time axis and can be summoned in any era, regardless of past and future. And such powerful beings would only heed the call for battle if something of great value was presented to them—The Holy Grail, where their wishes could be obtained should they win the War.

But in the distorted world, there existed no such thing as far as the Mage's Association past investigations were concern. So it was mystery why Servants would appear alongside Shades in the Distorted Labyrinth. Inside the Labyrinth, the Servants were Blackened, corrupted and not fully form as their Saint Graph was incomplete and even at times deteriorated. So it made it 'easy' to face any stray Servant inside the Labyrinth—as far as easy meant when dealing with a Servant was.

But inside the Distorted Marbles was a different story. Even though he had been forced to go inside his father's world, he never met the Servant dwelling inside. The mages had confirmed the presence of a Servant, a fully fledge and powerful Servant at that, but they couldn't pin-point its location. Because of it, he never had the chance to see a true Servant.

But now it was different, he didn't like it at all.

 _'Who is he!?'_

The Servant ignored him as he raised his right hand up towards Suzui, the girl gasped and tried to squirmed away from the hand. She let out a scream as the tentacle holding her descended, her breath was caught in her throat as it tightened. Her eyes were wide as saucer plates, her skin deathly white as she was forced to stared into the bulging eyes of the Servant. Elongated nails scooped Suzui's young chin, forcing her to loo directly into the Servant's grinning visage. His eyes glowed brightly as he inspected her.

"OOOooo! A real woman…a woman made of flesh and blood…AAAAAaa! This could be it! The chance I had long for!" The mad Servant's screeched, his cheeks pulling up even more as he grinned further. He moved his other hand to touch Suzui's right cheek, the girl shaking as sweat rolled off her skin—

SHKPLANG!

The place Shirou had been standing in exploded as he burst forward. Debris, blood, gore and horrors flew through the air as he shot off like a bullet towards the Servant with abandon. For Shirou, there was no time to think or even time to analyze the situation or even consider the dangers of fighting against a Servant—something he had been warned not to engaged by the most cautious of mages and his own parents.

 _…Servants are above human capabilities, you will die if you engaged a proper Servant in direct combat…_

Those were the warnings he had received. He had taken them to heart—after all, he couldn't die until he was sure he had succeeded in his mission and saved his family. But now wasn't the time to worry about his mortality. He just needed to save the person in front of him.

That is all.

Kanshou and Bakuya cut through the air as he missile into the Servant. He was barely five meters away from them and—

"Go away." The Servant flicked a finger in his direction casually—

Every single instinct in Shirou roared to him that there was danger to his right. Spinning in mid-air, he was met with one of the aquatic monsters—its mouth wide as dozen of its sharp teeth glistened brightly with its drool and blood. It barreled into him, throwing him off course as its tentacles wrapped around one of his arms and the rest of his body. He was helplessly pinned in place as the two crashed into the floor, Shirou felt his ribs nearly crush under the weight of the creature as they skidded through the bloody and corpse filled floor.

The monster lunged it's 'head' forward as it attempted to bite Shirou's face off. With gritted teeth, he swung his free arm and stabbed Bakuya into the monsters mouth, it squealed in pain as its black blood gushed out and drenched Shirou in its substance. The hold over his body lessened slightly and he didn't waste the opportunity given to him—bending his knees so his feet could touch the floor and use his neck to keep the rest of his back away from the gory floor, he propelled himself into the air. The weight on his stomach unbearable, but thinking quickly with his other hand, he flipped Kanshou and sliced the tentacles off.

Freed from the monster he flipped around, using the blood and wet texture of the monster to slide away, he backflip in midair and using the momentum he kicked the creature away as he landed on a slippery and gore coated wall. He glared at the Servant, seeing the 'Heroic' Spirit smiled at the terrified Suzui. Stomping on the wall hard, Shirou shot once more towards his target.

The Servant noticed him again and looked at him, his grin sagging as he regarded the redhead with an expression that was almost carve out of stone. "Hmm? Still here?"

From the blood soaked floor, seven of those very same creatures spawned—all of them catapulted up in the air and surrounding the redhead. Shirou's eye broadened at the surprise attack. All the monsters screeched loudly as their maws were opened wide and they lung forward. But—

Focusing, the redhead spun midair like a cyclone—his blades cutting into the creatures leaving trails of black blood flying everywhere and the ear-piercing screeches to fill the room. His spinning stopped as Kanshou got stuck on one of the closer monsters to his right while his body was awkwardly rotated, the creature screeched at him and unleashed its tentacles at him like thrown javelins. All of the appendages were aimed for his stomach, chest, neck and head—he had less than a second to react, using his momentum and the blade impaled on the monster to catapult himself above the tentacle he dodged the killing blows and flew away from the ambush spot in the air.

In mid-air he looked back at the now colliding monsters. With Bakuya being the only weapon he had on hand at the moment, he pulled his arm back and threw it. The blade arc through the horror filled room, cutting apart the disoriented monsters.

He landed swiftly, blood splattering up—Shirou stared back at his reddish reflection from the crimson liquid and caught sight of movement in it. He looked up and saw another creature that had sneaked up on him, throwing itself at him just like the others to eat him. He flexed his empty hands—he weaponless and vulnerable.

Shirou stared at certain death as he was incapable of defending or countering this attack. Suzui opened her mouth to scream for him as her eyes widened when the creature got less than a meter away from him.

It was a checkmate—the bug eye Servant smiled at this, ready to say something as he would be slowly eaten and killed.

 _'This situation is no problem at all.'_

"Trace—!"

The aquatic monstrosity screeched as it was mere inches from his face—it's tentacles already enrapturing around him.

"ON!"

And just like that he was armed once more, Kanshou and Bakuya moved, black and white filled his vision, his arms felt as if they were going to be ripped from their sockets and the monster was cut into pieces. He burst through the bloody and chunky remains before they even had time to start falling, he felt the blood and cut pieces of the monster soak his form, but he ignored it as he shot off like a bullet. The Servant looked at him with that stony expression again, this time paying more attention to him and narrowing his bulging eyes.

Shirou readied his blades as he grew nearer to his target. _'That's right keep looking at me…don't pay any attention to Suzui until I can get her to safety.'_

More monsters burst into action. Shirou seeing the danger, jumped back as three of the aquatic creatures slammed into the spot he had been mere moments ago. Backflipping, he let Kanshou and Bakuya fly—the black and white blade both eagerly cutting and ripping the monsters flesh apart. Shirou landed and moved as the monsters kept up their attack, he looked at the large number of enemies and gritted his teeth.

"If that's the case…" And suddenly, his hands held Kanshou and Bakuya once more—but this time, he held three copies of each blade in his hands. "Let's even the odds!"

He threw them, the blades flew. The sound squelching and dripping was filled with whizzing of sharp swords flying like a hurricane, cutting everything in their path and rendering the monsters to screeching messes. Shirou landed once more, his hands once more filled with six swords—he looked to the awestruck Suzui, he moved towards her as he threw the blades back into the fray.

Kanshou and Bakuya, the two married blades that would forever attempt to find each other no matter the distance or direction they had been hurled from. This made a single pair useful for surprise tactics in a fight—but eight became a chaotic mayhem of slashes and death. He dashed forwards while behind him, all the monsters had been shredded, sliced and stabbed—the aquatic creatures all screeched loudly in pain as all the swords thrown had plunge into some of them and pinned them in place, stopping their attempts to pursue him.

Everything blurred into motion as Shirou shot towards the Servant uninterrupted, the Servant looked down at him with narrowed eyes. The redhead bared his teeth as pushed he re-projected two more of the pair blades. _'Now to save Suzu—!'_

 **"What's this? More intruders?"**

A familiar voice made him recoil just in time for his ears to pick up the loud 'SQUILCHRGH!' from behind him. He skidded to a stop mere meters away from the Servant and Suzui, he spun around and was caught off guard when golden knight with a red plum on its helm filled his vision. His eyes broadened as a blur of movement had him hurriedly raised his blades to defend from the golden blade that dropped down on him like hammer.

CLANG!

Shirou's knees buckled from the blow that the knight gave him. He was given no time to recover as the knight used its left arm to ram it's shield into his stomach. "GRUARGH!" blood and spit spurted from Shirou's mouth as he was sent flying back, swords falling from his grasp and skidding through the bloody floor on his back. He cough violently as his body was drenched in the gore, glaring at the red dripping ceiling, he slammed his elbows on the wet floor and spun onto his knees to fully stop his movement.

He coughed some more and shook his head as his mask finally manifested back to him. He growled at the knight that had thrown his efforts to save Suzui back to zero, looking around and noticing that he was a mere meters away from the monsters he had defeated. Surrounded by the screeching monsters Shirou looked at Suzui, who wasn't looking at him and instead was seeing something beyond him. He turned to followed her gaze and found the ruler of this distorted world.

Kamoshida strolled forward casually, a giant cocky grin on his face and proudly displaying the crown on his head, signifying his position clearly—his body bared except for the shiny heart decorated cape, speedo and brown shoes. The king was accompanied by five silver knights who moved protectively around the ruler. Kamoshida stopped looked in distaste at the bloody and gory room with bright yellow eyes.

 **"Humph, Caster! I told you to clean up this mess! A king shouldn't suffer to such a sight!"**

Caster let out a 'OOooaaa!' at the words, whining as if he were a dog. The Servant gestured for the tentacle holding Suzui to lower and present her. "My apologies Suguru-sama, but…I simply didn't have the time when this beautiful gift presented herself into your wonderous castle!"

Kamoshida's Shade caught a good look at the bruised and shaking Shiho. **"Humph, that bitch wandered here? Hah! I knew I would get my complete payback with you, fucking tramp!"**

The king raised his right hand up, with a grin he snapped his fingers loudly. A second passed and immediately the sounds of dozens of running footsteps filled the darken area as a large crowd appeared behind the mad king.

"Those…are the volleyball team members…" Suzui gasped, her eyes sagging as she watched dozens of males students dressed in the school gym uniform shivering and moaning from all the bruises they sported. Kamoshida smirked at them and pointed forward.

 **"Build me a bridge to cross this disgusting floor you peasants!"**

"O-Of course your highness!" Was the united high-pitched cry from all the abused volleyball team players. Like a united front they ran forward, one student laid down facing down on the gory floor right before Kamoshida—then another did the same beside the first one, then another, then another, then another. They kept doing this until they created a passage that laid straight towards the Servant.

Kamoshida grinned as he began walking over them, he made sure to ground his heel on them as he walked. Shirou gritted as he stood up, ready to intervene—he felt a sudden chill crawl up his spine and he jumped to his right just in time to see a silver knight slam down with his sword right where he was moments ago. Shirou skidded to a stop, snapping his head towards the five knights that swaggered towards him with their weapons read. While this occurred, Kamoshida reached Caster and Suzui stepping over the students makeshift bridge and staircase to stand on the same level as the two.

 **"Oh Suzui! Look at how the mighty have fallen!"** Kamoshida mocked with a sharp grin, his face twisting into wrinkly crease as he gritted his teeth. He pulled his left hand over his head and 'SMACK!' backhanded the girl, her head snapping to the right and blood spilling out of her mouth. Suzui's eyes were wide, a choke gasp struggling to escape her chest as the stinging pain on her cheek and metallic taste of blood was savored by her tongue. Her hair was grabbed cruelly and was forced to look into the king's eyes, her gaze trembled as tears fell from her eyes. **"You fucking whore! How dare you humiliate me! ME! In my own castle! Yo—!"**

"KAMOSHIDA!" The king recoiled and let go of the girl as he turned towards the redhead with a raised brow. Shirou just gritted his teeth, glad that he managed to get the attention away from Suzui—but frustrated that he had been unable to defend or help the girl. He focused on the king, still keeping an eye out for the knights as he began to formulate a plan.

He needed to keep the attention on himself for now—so he re-projected Kanshou and Bakuya, seeing the knights tense up and ready to burst into action. He kept calm as Kamoshida's eyes widened in recognition.

 **"Hoh? Well, well, if it isn't the handyman!"**

Shirou narrowed his eyes at man, taking slow steps towards the right as he tried to get closer to the Suzui and find an opening to rescue her. "Handyman?"

 **"That's what I, the king, have decreed you as! After all, you're the only student worth a damn in my castle…aside from the girls of course."** Kamoshida grinned lecherously as he turned and looked at Suzui as he licked his lips with his tongue, leaving a trail of saliva on his lips and drooling down his chin. The girl bowed her head, her body shaking and light gasp escaping her lips as she sweated profusely. Shirou bared his teeth at the changed of attention, he needed his attention back on himself.

"Let Suzui go Kamoshida."

 **"Humph, you presume to order me around? Me!? The King!? Hah! I must have given you way to much credit if your that much of a fucking retard!"** The king sneered at him, before showing a big smile. He turned toward Caster. **"Hey, how about you show these two what you've been working on Bluebeard-kun…I want to see their reaction."**

Shirou narrowed his gaze at the nickname, biting his lips as he continued to close the distance.

"Oooo?" Caster bulging eyes widened even further as a child-like smile blossomed on his stony face. "My Master….your kindness knows bound! AAAAAAaaa to allow me the chance to show to others my attempts at sacrilege, at playing God! OOoooo! Let your eyes feast upon the creations of a creator! Look—!"

Caster spread his arms wide, on his right hand dark purplish energy gathered and formed a book, it was grasped by elongated nails and opened. Suzui throat contracted, a vile rose through her gullet as tears spewed out of her trembling eyes when she saw the rotten, red and purple human skinned book, a face with its mouth wide open was the cover for the horror. Caster howled as the booked glowed and the gory room trembled slightly. Shirou gritted his teeth, tensing as a few meters to his left he saw a figure rising from the gory floor. He recoiled when he saw twenty other figures rising around the horrific cell. Blood cascaded from the figures, chunks and slime ran down until the figures were revealed to the world.

"What…is this…?"

The twenty one bodies were all misshapen corpses, cut and stitched together with worm like tentacles writhing around and keeping the different body parts stuck together. Every single one of those pale corpses were woman, hair a different shade of blond and their features deformed, yet with a hint of familiarity. It was as if Caster had been trying to create a face from memory and used up all the skins from all the bodies thrown around in the room. Even the way the bodies were stuck together wasn't pleasant, underneath their skin something moved—and through gashes of the skin he saw the trails of small tentacles roaming around. It was a twisted and horrendous attempt at playing Frankenstein, their glazy eyes devoid of any light as they twitched and writhed with the tentacles underneath their skin.

"Behold!" The mad Caster screamed in grandiose abandon as he spread his arm to present the horror before him. "The blasphemous mockery towards God! My attempt to create the noble saint who was burned by the stake! See and wretched at the beauty of Virgin Saint!"

Suzui's breath were heavy, shakily she turned towards the gleeful Caster as her skin turned even paler. "Why…why would you do something so horrible!"

Caster's faced her with a grin. "Why? Because pursuing the beauty of God and damned it to sacrilege would be the greatest offense I could give to Him!"

He reached for her with his left hand, long pointy nails scraping her skin when he grasped her chin. "…ghi…!"

"And with a girl such as yourself, someone closed to the age of when my dear Saint had died…a girl from the real world…someone like you could be the final ingredient I need to bring my holy woman back!" Caster's grin became manic. "With your heart, I will be able to corrupt and disgrace the saint of God!"

Shirou had enough of this, he had found an open path for him to charge in through. Green magical circuits traveled down to his legs, reinforcing them, he lunged forward like bullet. He avoided all of the horrible bodies put on the display as he—

CLANG!

"Grghk—!" Shirou grunted as he pushed back by the golden knight and skidded back through the gory ground. He came to a stop and glared at the sauntering knight.

"You shall not passed you dirty mongrel!" The knight roared as his golden armor bleed black and red, exploding violently, revealing a towering knight with two horns and a cape, riding a massive horse as it neighed loudly. The horned knight raised its long spear and lunged it at him. Shirou grunted as he backflipped away, avoiding certain death from the massive enemy. Landing once more, his eyes narrowed behind his mask as he noticed he was surrounded by the horned knight and the silver knights.

Kamoshida smiled at the tensed standoff and turned to Caster. **"How about I help you with returning your saint to you?"**

The Servant turned towards the king with glistening eyes. "OoooOO! How kind of you Suguru-kun!"

Kamoshida grinned widely, his teeth showing as he narrowed his eyes towards the agitated Suzui. He brought his right hand up and snapped his fingers. The 'SNAP!' echoed through the hellish cell, disappearing through the exit and dimming as it bounced off the walls. The noise was soon replaced by clumsy steps and loud throaty giggles that filled the horrifying room, immediately breaking the tense situation as a blonde girl in a skimpy magenta bikini appeared through the opening of the cell. The blonde ran on top all the bridge of male students, waving her arms around and making her breasts bounced with each steps.

Shirou's eyes widened as he recognized the girl. "That's…"

"A-Ann…!?" Suzui gasped complete as her eyes followed the blonde run, tripping over her high heels and giggling as she recovered before she fully fell. The girl reached Kamoshida, jumped and wrapped her entire body over his. Tip toeing and cooing into his face, she bounced up and down, rubbing her breasts over his muscular chest.

"Kamoshida~sama~!" Takamaki moaned as bit her lips with half-lidded eyes, her words were slurred like a cheesy porn actress. She stuck her tongue out and started to wiggle it around. "I missed you~!" Then she smacked her mouth against the curly hair king's mouth. Kamoshida's yellow eyes light up, groping the blonde's rear with rough and callous hands, he pulled the girl up and looked at Suzui with a grin while kissing Takamaki.

Suzui jaw fell open ajar, her eyes trembling as she saw her friend, the one person she cared deeply for in the world, passionately kiss a man many years her senior. It made her nose crease as an acid taste rouse from her throat and made her gag. She shook her head and narrowed her eyes, clenched her teeth and leaning forward as she glared at the blonde.

"Ann…what are you doing!?"

The blonde's blue eyes locked in with her brown ones and Ann broke the kiss with the older man. She licked her bruised lips, leaning back as she held Kamoshida's neck for support and began giggling loudly. "I'm kissing my man~! What are you stupid or something Shi-chan~!"

Suzui shook, leaning back with a raised brow and tears streaming down her face. "What…what's wrong with you!?"

 **"She's doing what she was always meant to do. And due time I'll have the Ann from the real world begging for me to rut her like a cheap whore…it's just a matter of time."** Kamoshida grinned when Suzui looked at him glazed over eyes and bowed her head. Groping the blonde in his grasp he turned towards Caster. **"Let the whore drop, I wanna see her squirm like the bitch she is."**

"AAAaaa! An excellent idea as always Suguru-kun!" Caster waved his hand in Suzui's direction and let her dropped onto the blood sunken floor.

The tentacle holding Suzui unfolded, leaving the girl to gasp loudly as air pour through her now free lungs. She dropped, eyes broad and hands reaching for something to grab on to, until 'SPLAGCHT!'. The girl flayed around, feeling wet and sticky liquid crush her until she sat up abruptly, shaking her head with her eyes closed as her eyelids were weighted down and began coughing into her left forearm—she stopped when she tasted a sour metallic liquid stain her taste buds. She opened eyes, seeing red liquid drooled from her eyelashes—she trembled as her eyes looked down at her body.

Her white school sweater was drenched in blood, completely red, and her waist was half submerged on the river of gore in her seated state. She stared at her body, illuminated by the phone Shirou had given her earlier, seeing her chest rising and falling quickly as it became hard to breath. Until—

"A…aah…AAAAAAAAAHH!" She screeched, her vocal cords groaning in protest as the girl cried and shook from the gore violating her body. Laughter made her look away from all the blood and towards the sound, she saw Ann laughing at her.

"Ah sheesh~! You're so stupid Shi~chan~! Like seriously, defying Kamoshida, is like totally, not cool at all~! You're so retarded~! Retard, retard~! Hihihihi~!"

Suzui's skin paled, her eyes shrinking as the laughter hit her and she looked down. She bit her lip, tasting the horror that had marred her form and feeling her tears mix in with the gore.

 **"And now…"** Kamoshida grinned down at the dark hair girl, licking his lips. **"I want her to be completely defiled, give me a show Bluebeard!"**

Caster smiled, his lips making his eyes crinkle as his round eyes trembled. Turning with the human-skin book in hand he pointed it towards the Suzui's direction. The book opened, pages scripted with unreadable words and symbols flipped rapidly until it reached the half of the book and glowed black. 'SPLURCH! and four tentacles sprouted out, all twitching and writhing as they darted towards the shaking girl. It reached her, wrapping themselves around her shins and thighs, the appendages on the upper part of her legs began to massage her skin and rise up.

"Her tears, her sorrow, her despair…all of this violation and blasphemous acts she will suffer…it will be…sublime!"

Shirou was sent flying back once more, glaring at the horned knight before flipping midair and landing on his knees. He got up and looked around to see he was surrounded by various bicorns—the silver knights had transformed to overwhelm him earlier—and now stalked towards him. Shirou's gaze looked past his enemies and his heart began to crash against his ribcage when he saw Suzui being lifted off from the bloody floor slightly via four tentacles—two of them slowly going up her skirt.

 _'Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! I can't get to her like this…and if I'm not fast enough then she…'_ He refused to let his mind wander over the possibilities as instead he focused on what he could. He noticed movement in his left and saw a bicorn trying to ram him down. He jumped over the attacking animal, landed on its back and propelled himself up into the air and away from the ambush area. _'I need her to get to her feet! If she does that, then I can use my arrows to blow those tentacles away—! But I also need her to run! She will be into much of a shock by this point and wont move, which then will lead to her being use as a hostage and going back to square fucking one! I need…_

 _I need to inspire her…I need to get her angry, to make her realize—'_

He landed on the gory ground, feeling the splashing of blood coat his form and turned towards the unmoving girl. "SUZUI! That's not TAKAMAKI!". He tensed when he heard 'splash! Splash! SPLASH!' from behind and jumped to his right as two bicorns crashed where he was. He skidded through the bloody floor and turned towards the girl. "SUZUI! You need to wake up! That's not her and you know it!"

"…" The girl barely moved at his words and he growled, fist clenching tightly and his feeling the veins in his head throbbed as blood began to pump quickly. He needed to hit closer to home if he wanted a reaction. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and he whirled around to the blade tip of the spear from the horned knight with his blades. He glared at the knight, baring his teeth and then he let his head tilt towards Suzui.

"Suzui you said you wanted to save your friend from Kamoshida! So WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

She flinched, her glazed eyes gaining a shine to them as she looked at him. "Ann…"

He screamed loudly, the muscle in his biceps tearing and the floor beneath breaking as he pushed forward, slashing his blades in a cross he broke the deadlock he and the horn knight were in. The knight recoiled and Shirou jumped, landing on the head of the massive stead, then launching himself up once more and planting his metal boot on its helm. He ground his foot on the knight as it growled at him, then propelled himself into the sky.

He looked at the dazed Suzui, took a deep breath and—

"Are you going to let her become Kamoshida's plaything—OR ARE YOU GOING TO SAVE HER LIKE YOU WANT!"

And with those words, Suzui's eyes were glistening with light.

 _'Good, now I'll switch the blades for my bow and—what…!? What's happening!? Wai…could this be…'_ Shirou hesitated for a brief second as he saw Suzui glow, the distraction cost him "Gragh!" a bicorn crashed into his back and sent him rocketing towards the floor. He slid on his through the bloody ground, then flipped to his feet, stumbling back and his back touching the bloody wall behind him. He noted the enemies all surrounding him and smirking—but despite this, his focus was entirely on Suzui. "It's just…just like what happened to me…"

Shiho Suzui was burning blue.

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* * *

"Are you going to let her become Kamoshida's plaything—OR ARE YOU GOING TO SAVE HER LIKE YOU WANT!"

Shiho recoiled at the worlds, gasped and clenched her hands.

 _'He's absolutely right. How could I lose my cool like that? How could I give up so easily, when Ann is suffering and being mocked constantly? It's so stupid! I'm…I'm not going to give in! I'm not going to let that pig win!'_

Her vision which was filled with red burned away into blue.

 ** _"My, my it has taken you far too long…"_** A voice purred from within Suzui's head. The girl gasped, eyes flashing yellow, her head throbbing as if someone was driving a screwdriver through it. Whimpering she grasped her head with both hands. **_"Standing by is no longer a choice you have the luxury to give…it is time to let your impatience and intolerance towards those pigs come to an end, has it not?"_**

 _…don't let yourself get run over by the circumstances…it may seem tough, but as long as you have someone you want to save…it doesn't matter how impossible the odds seem, because…even mere goodness can achieve something, right…_

Those words echoed in her mind, her eyes focusing on a bright spot on the blood splattered floor. Emiya's phone laid there, the screen on and showing her a picture—his family happily smiling towards the camera. Shirou had something to protect—and so did she!

"Y-Yes…I'm done playing the meek helpless girl!" Fire began to form over her body, her face set ablaze as a form began to take shape.

 ** _"Splendid, then the contract has been made. I am thou. Thou art I. You had chosen to hide your claws in the face of adversity, must now bear them forth at all times. Sharpened thy eyes and bared your fangs! Don't let anyone fuck with us any longer!"_**

A mask burned onto her face, curving and forming the shape of a bird. It was reddish orange, with white highlights in the feathers of the her bird mask. Shiho glared through the eyeholes of her mask, her eyes burning brightly.

"No more… **Irene Adler!"**

—with that passionate cry she reached with both her hands and ripped the mask off her face.

And rising like phoenix, she burst into flames reborn anew.

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* * *

A tower of azure of fire exploded from Suzui with great force, pushing the river of blood away from her, the students that Kamoshida and Takamaki were using to stand on and burnt away the monster Caster was using to elevate himself. The king and blonde's bodies were wrapped around tentacles, keeping them from falling into the pool of blood as Caster call forth for another creature with his book, retreating back from the flames that reached up to the ceiling.

Shirou looked at fire, his mouth opened as with shaky knees he stood up. "Whoa…"

Suzui head was leaning back, staring at the ceiling as the blue fire retreated and revealed her form. She wore a beige suit over a light maroon shirt, matching suit pants, and a pair of white wingtips. A maroon coat with a strip of black fur all around the collar and down the front adorned her frame and it batted harshly against the currents of her powers. Her head tilted forward, her eyes narrowed as she turned to look at Kamoshida, her lips pulling down and baring her canine teeth. She clenched her beige color gloves tightly and turned towards the now sweating king.

 **"N-No…! Another one…!"** Kamoshida snapped towards Caster, who stared at the girl with wide eyes and reaching out for her with his claw like hands. **"H-Hey! Do something! Kill her! Kill her!"**

"Could it…could it be…this fire…this spirit…my saint…?" Caster shivered as those words left his lips, Kamoshida growled at this. Holding up his right hand up, a red marking stylized like a rose glowed red. Shirou's eye's widened, tensing incredibly.

"That's a—!?"

 **"By the command of my Command Spell! YOUR KING ORDERS YOU TO KILL HER!"** The magical mark in Kamoshida's hand glowed bright red, then burst, sending out a small red wave through the darken hellish cell. One of the petals of the kings rose stylized Command Spell darken, leaving only two sections left.

"B-But…!" Caster sputtered turning his head towards Kamoshida with his skin wrinkling as his mouth sagged. His arms pointed towards the enflame girl with his human skin book, it opened wide as a mass of tentacles sprouted from it and six of aquatic monsters spawned from the blood soaked floor. The monsters screeched loudly, jumping high and homing down towards Suzui.

The empowered girl narrowed her eyes at the incoming foes. "Stop…"

The monsters greedily opened their mouths to eat her, their tentacles spread to allow for no escape—but their efforts resulted in failure. From the fire surrounding Suzui, a figured moved with power and intent, stopping the monsters as they tried to wrapped their limbs the girl.

The creatures screech in futility as they were torn apart by the figure surrounded by crackling chains. The azure fire gave away to reveal a tall woman, slouching in midair, her maroon color Victorian dress fluttered slowly as the spectral woman twirled around her beige color, frilly coated umbrella with both of her black glove hands. She moved her right hand tipped her feather coated hat, grinning toothily as she gave the shredded monster a crooked smile. Suzui turned and glared at Kamoshida and Caster.

"I'm done being your little punching bag Kamoshida…I'll make you regret ever hurting me and everyone else! Irene!"

The large spectral woman let out a loud laughter escaped her, jumping to her feet, covering her mouth with her right hand, she spun her beige color umbrella rapidly. The umbrella spun, spun, spun until a white, glowing ring appear in the edge of the sunshade. The spectral being raised it up into the air, and then everything went white.

Everyone present was blinded as loud 'BZIT!' went off. Shirou looked down, teeth bared and used his arms to protect his eyes from the light. He looked up and caught sight of the blood soaked floor ebbing away as the light expanded, destroying all the corruption in the room with great prejudice. The blood, the corpses, the monsters and the bodies that the mad Caster had stitched together—they all disappeared under the great light.

The knight and bicorns all turned, sensing the danger towards their master. They started to move—Shirou saw this and projected his favor twin swords.

"No you don't! Trace—" Within Shirou's field of vision, he could see the shape of the blades he had thrown earlier to skewered the now vaporized monsters all stabbed into the floor. Each blade was located near a bicorn and the horned knight even as they moved. Seeing an opportunity, he acted quickly he stabbed Kanshou and Bakuya into the ground, pouring as much magical energy into the floor—green circuits spread from his arms, towards the stabbed blades, spreading through the floor and reaching for all twelve blades he had thrown. The blades glowed bright as they began to change. "OVEREDGE!"

All the copies of Kanshou and Bakuya changed from the short blades they were originally and into great jagged swords. The enemies hesitated for a moment and that was all Shirou needed, as he poured even more power through the circuits. The transformed blades all cracked—

KRASH! BOOM!

One explosions consumed a bicorn, then another consumed two. Four explosions and the enemies forces were overwhelmed—six more and they were defeated. Blue and red went off as the enemy howled in pain. Only the horned knight was left, limping and critical condition. Shirou nodded at the opportunity given and smiled.

"Emiya-kun!" Shirou perked up and turned around in time to see Suzui ran towards him through the now clear floor "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. We need to get out of here." Suzui nodded, turned away from him and looked at the blonde who was cooing and trying to reach for a red face and screaming Kamoshida. Shirou flicked his eyes from Kamoshida and Suzui, then he grabbed her arm tightly. The girl snapped her head towards him, glaring narrowly through the eyeholes of her mask. Shirou shook his head. "Don't. That's not her."

"How can you be so sure!?" She ripped her arm away from his gasp, biting her lip as she took a step towards him. "I can't leave her here if it's her!"

"You shouldn't worry so much, it's just a cognitive being. She's not the real her." A high-pitched voice made the two teenager jumped then whirled around in the direction of the voice. The two saw nothing but the walls of the cell and looked from left to right in worry. The sound of "Hrruamph!"made the two look down. They saw a bipedal cat with a large head and blue eyes stared at them with small arms crossed over its chest like a boss would do when looking down on a subordinate. A yellow bandana was wrapped around its neck and a utility belt on its waist.

"A cat…?" Shirou's eyes narrowed as he looked at the creature, his mind racing through the possibilities. He stiffened when loud 'THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!' sounded from behind him. He whirled around to see eight knights running towards them with their weapons drawn. "Damn it! Suzui-san, stand—!"

"Zorro! Show them your might!" A blue light from behind the two teenagers made them recoiled, they looked back just a strong gust of wind crashed into them and nearly made them fall on their backs. A tall and disproportionally buffed man with a long and pointy moustache that showed off its confident grin as it swiped its rapier with its too big hands in 'Z' pattern.

CRASH!

Once more, Shirou and Suzui flinched and looked back just in time to see the knights flying through the air and crashing against the hard floor. "Whoa…!" Shirou turned back towards the cat and saw it crossed its arms and squints his big blue eyes.

"I'm not a cat! The name's Morgana, so remember it well rookie!"

"Rookie…?" Shirou parroted in confusion.

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" A loud screeched made them all turned towards Caster, the Servant howled like a rabid dog. His bulging eyes were bloodshot and moist with tears. "My saints…my SAINTS! **WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! AAAAAAAAAAAAAA**!"

The book held the Caster's hand glowed black, followed by the room itself darkening and the sound of 'SPLURGCHT! SPLURGCHT!' going off all around. The screeched that came a second later had Shirou gritting his teeth, he look at Suzui and the girl began to back away from the encroaching darkness.

"Hey!" The two turned towards Morgana who gestured at them for the exit. "Let's get out of here!"

"We can't trust you." Shirou stated firmly at the cat, before turning back at the mass of blackness approaching. A cold sweat rolled down his cheek when he caught sight of something writhing and moving erratically.

"Hey, if you wanna stay with the creep and his monsters then be my guest." Morgana shrugged, then turned towards Suzui and nodded at her. "But if you wanna survive this, follow me!"

"Emiya-kun…!" Suzui called out to him and grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the approaching danger. Shirou clicked his tongue, letting himself move in the direction Suzui was dragging him away to.

The howling screeches of the Caster echoed throughout the entire dungeon as they escaped.

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* * *

The three intruders breath heavily as they hid on the outside of the castle. Shirou leaned his head through the shadowed corner wall in the entrance of the castle, his eyes darted from left to right behind his mask and saw nothing had managed to follow after them. He let out a small breath and turned towards Morgana, the cat laid on the floor face first breathing rapidly while Suzui sat beside the feline with her head smother against her knees and back against the wall. His lips dipped down as he looked at the cat, hands clenching and eyebrows raising behind the red cloth on his face.

"What are your intentions?"

The cat stiffened and twisted its head to look at Shirou with wide eyes. Morgana got to all four and jumped to its feet, it turned towards him with narrowed eyes.

"Ah, so I got another skeptic. At least your smarter than the blonde monkey." Morgana murmured as it swung its tailed from left to right and looked up with a sharp toothed grin. "Listen, I helped you out because you did me a huge favor in taking out the cell of that bug eye creep! I've been aiming to kick him right in those inflated eyeballs of his and get his freaky monologuing from skewering my ears off. I was about to go to that creep until I got saved!"

"Saved…?" Suzui questioned with a raised brow. Morgana scratched the back of its head and nodded.

"Yep, though I'm not going to say who."

"What about Ann…" Suzui faced wrinkled as she bit her lip and clenched her hands. "We left her back there!"

"Tone it down…!" Morgana shush as he peeked around Shirou's leg to see if they had been heard and turned towards the girl. "Like I said, that girl isn't your friend. She's a byproduct of Kamoshida's cognition—it's how Kamoshida sees her in his Palace."

"…disgusting pig…" Suzui grumbled, shaking her head and getting to her feet. She looked at the redhead, but saw that he was looking at Morgana.

"Palace…? You mean this Distorted Marble, right? I never heard someone coin the use of the words of cognition when describing the Distorted Worlds…what mostly inhabits them are Phantasmal Shades and the Shade who commands this place."

The cat looked at Shirou and squinted his big eyes at him. "What?"

"Huh?"

"Why are you talking all fancy with all these names? Distorted Marble? Distorted Worlds? Phantasmal Shades? Are you trying to look cool or something, because it's not working." Morgana scoffed with crossed arms. Shirou turned somewhat red at the jibed and cough into his fist. Though he was cautious of the cat, he wanted information about this cat seemed to know.

Suzui beat him to the punch as she gasped and looked at the red sky. "So what do you call this place then? And where's the school? Just what's going on?"

"This place is call a Palace My lady." Morgana said changing its tune quickly as it looked at the girl with a smile. "This is a world as Kamoshida views it. Basically we're inside his heart, it's why the school turned into a castle as that's how he sees it. All the stuff you saw in there? That's how Kamoshida views things in the real world, he has such distorted desires that it manifested as a castle. And the Palace Ruler is Kamshida's Shadow, his real self. Everything is connected to him and his desire—well except for the bug eye creep, I don't know where he came from and I got no idea what that guy is…he totally isn't a Shadow, that's for sure."

"That's…" Suzui trailed off as she looked at the castle, right hand over her chest. Shirou raised the red headband with his left hand to let left his eyes peered down on the cat as he raised an eyebrow at the information they were given. From what he could understand, the cat had great knowledge concerning with the things in Distorted Marble, or Palace as he called it, but remained unknowledgeable when concerning with the world of magic. He didn't know how to feel about that point, but—

"Why are you telling us this so openly? You don't even know us nor can't you trust us…so why?"

Morgana looked at him with a smirk and turned his back to them as he began to head back to the castle. "Think of it as me saying thank you for ruining that freaks day…he was giving me and the others trouble…and, well…you can take the information I gave as an offering. I never thought I would meet more Persona users here, but it seems life as a funny way of showing it's humor."

Shirou's eyes widened, as the past words of the angry Kamoshida and the reveal the cat brought forth made him feel tense. "More Persona users!? Wh—!?"

"You better go!" Morgana said as he jumped into the shadows, disappearing from his view. The cat voice echoed. "The Palace securities are bound to come here, so you better escape! I wont be saving you a second time amateurs!"

"Wait—!" Shirou called out, but tensed at the sound of dozens of metal footsteps. He took a step back and looked at Suzui. The girl grabbed his shoulder and looked at him firmly.

"Let's go Emiya-kun, please."

Shirou sighed and nodded, guiding the girl towards the exit of the distorted world.

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* * *

 _4/13 Wednesday, Afternoon Afterschool_

"So I guess the supernatural is real…right?"

"Again…yes."

"And you were always aware of it?"

"…yes…"

"But you won't tell me or explain more to me because you don't trust me?"

Shirou sighed and looked at Suzui as they wander through the school halls. The girl's earlier bruises were gone, her bloodstain uniform restore back to its pristine and clean form. There was also her eyes, they were vibrant and more focus than before. "It isn't that I don't trust you, it's that this is something you were never meant to be a part of. It's my fault and my responsibility to bear for my own stupidity."

The girl stopped and narrowed her eyes on him. "How do you know I wasn't meant to be a part of this? With this—!?"

"Suzui, please…I already told you that I can't say anymore and all I ask is that you trust me on this. You don't want to get more involve with this matter. There's a lot that you don't and shouldn't understand, so please leave it be…" Shirou's face softened as he took a deep breath. "…please Suzui-san…just leave it be for now. At least until I can get things in order on my side and try and explain things to you, okay?"

Suzui pursed her lip, hot air escaping her nostril as she closed her eyes and nodded. "Okay."

"Good…I should be heading home, I've been hearing that Kamoshida was somewhat irritated with me not being there to play against him…" The redhead sighed and scratched his left cheek as he turned away from the girl. "After seeing his Shade…I mean…Shadow, I guess, I can understand now why he has the need to showboat so much."

"Emiya-kun?" The soft way the girl had spoken his name made him turned towards her with a raised eyebrow.

"Wha—huh!?" He blinked a couple of time at the ceiling as his body was enrapture into a tight and warm hug. He looked down at the dark hair girl, and his face turned red. "S-S-Suzui-san! What are you doing…!?"

The girl stepped back, giving him a wide smile with shining eyes that made his heart skip a beat. "That was my thank you, Emiya-kun. For saving me, despite the danger you had to face. For helping me, even though you had no motive or anything to gain from it…for showing me the strength I needed to protect what I love."

Shirou swallowed thickly, seeing the eyes of the rumormongering students on him—he turned even redder. "I think you're giving me way too much credit…"

Suzui smiled at him, which made his face burned even redder. "I think you're not giving yourself enough credit Emiya-kun…if it weren't for you…I would still be my same pathetic self, but now…now I think I can do something to help out against people like Kamoshida."

"Huh…" The redhead smiled at her words. "That's great to hear actually…I'm actually glad that I was useful for something…"

Suzui smiled at him, but her eyes flickered above his shoulder—he turned and saw Takamaki walking through the halls, her head bowed, lips pursed and eyes glazed over. Shirou looked at her with a trouble expression—the images of her doppelganger with the Shadow Kamoshida fresh in his mind.

"I better go to Ann…I can see she's missed me and…" She placed a hand on her chest, her eyes bright. "I want to show her my newfound strength…I want her to rely on me."

"That's fantastic Suzui-san…I'll see you tomorrow then." Shirou turned to leave, but was stopped when the girl grabbed his arm. He turned towards her in confusion and she smiled as she handed him his phone back. "This is…!?"

"My number is in there…I saw your number and saved it to my phone." Suzui closed her eyes as she gave him a grin. "And for the record, you can call me Shiho."

Shirou looked at her in amazement, turning red again and coughing into his fist as he took the phone back. "Well…if that's the case, then you can call me Shirou, Suz—I mean, Shiho-san."

Shiho smiled at him as she turned away. "See you tomorrow Shirou-kun!"

"Yeah…" Shirou responded back as he looked down at his phone. Unlocking it, he saw the picture of his family and smiled. He touched the image of his sister's face as he looked back at Shiho who was chatting energetically with a surprise Takamaki. "I did it Illya…I saved her."

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE  
**

 **Hello there! It's been a while! Reason for this is because College has been getting hectic, so updates may be slower now. While all but one chapter for Arc 1 has been written, I don't have much time to go back and check them over with work and studies. Gotta update those chapters and fix things.**

 **Anyways, we've made it to our "second" awakening in the story. As some of you may have noticed, the Persona for Shiho has change from Sforza to Irene Adler, or Irene for short, a character** **Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. I saw the change as being more beneficial for Shiho's character and as well as it being more fitting with everyone's else theme.**

 **As you can tell, I'm already changing stuff from the original Heart's Oath. So this should be fun.**

 **Alright then, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I hope to see you for the next time. Please leave your thoughts in a review or PM me if you have any questions.**

 **Until next time, adios.**


	8. Rebels Unite

_**_**Arc 1: Welcome to Shibuya**_**_

 _4/14 Thursday Morning_

Ann Takamaki was smiling broadly and toothily, she had been doing it for so long that her cheeks hurt and trembled. Her best friend, Shiho Suzui, was smiling again after almost a year and not one of those fake or meek smile her friend put on for her, but a real and dazzling smile was firmly placed on her face. That simple fact made her eyes watered up as tears welled up in them.

Yesterday she had spent all her time talking with her best friend from the afternoon, to night, to midnight and to the very moment that she had woken up and called her during the morning. Hearing her talk with her past firmness, bluntness and positivity made her feel all giddy. It was great hearing her like that.

It reminded her of better times—times before Kamoshida.

Her smile sagged, her eyes flickering towards the school's main entrance. She walked up the steps to enter the building, eyes furrowing and lips pursing. She knew someone had been with Shiho yesterday. There had been rumors of a boy speaking daily with her, this had frustrated her as she had never caught these moments as she felt that Shiho was being bother by someone. It was just another thing to pile up in the list of all the things she failed to do for Shiho. But all of the sudden, her friend was happier than ever before. She had been looking for her friend after the short break from the Rally, but she had disappeared and she had heard rumors of seeing her walk with the same boy that had been with her out of the school. She should've gone after them, but seeing Sakamoto and the transfer student from her class agitating a very obvious hornet nest made her put those two into priority for her friends sake.

Shiho liked to hide her bruises and played them off as just practice being hard, but she had an inkling as to what they truly were. She took a sharp breath and released it slowly, her chest feeling as if it had been stabbed when that thought crossed her mind. She shook her head and smiled once more.

"I'll have to meet this guy and say thank you, for everything he has done…" She muttered to herself with a smile. She wasn't jealous of how this young man helped her friend, she felt grateful. Someone had been caring enough to help her friend and succeed where she had fail—so yes, she was eager to meet such a kind person. She began to head down the hall of the school with a smile. "Shiho needs to introduce me to him a—!"

"Introduce you to whom?" A man's voice made her stop mid step. She crinkled her nose at the familiar voice and swiveled around towards the tall, muscled and curly hair P.E teacher.

"Kamoshida-san…" Her cheeks were stiff, eyes narrowed and lips pulled down. The teacher took noticed of her expression and clicked his tongue.

"Suzui is going to introduce you to a boy Takamaki-san?" The man asked as he placed clenched hands on his waist and shook his head. He grinned as he looked around at the gathered students and raised his voice. "My, my you shouldn't be toying with a boy's feelings like that—it's cruel and unnecessary, especially if you've been spending time with me, hmm?"

Ann's cheeks flushed red at this, as the muttering from the other students filled her ears. _'This bastard…he's doing this to make me submit to him…like he's been doing all this time…always breaking what he doesn't like…"_

Kamoshida grinned as he looked at the blonde bowed her head, shoulders shaking and fist clench tightly. "You—!"

"You shouldn't concern yourself with the private life of a student, Kamoshida-san." The two jumped slightly, eyes snapping towards where the familiar voice that had interfered came from.

Ann's eyes sparkle brightly and a smile spread through her lips. "Shiho!" The dark hair girl smiled at the blonde, giving her a nod as she walked towards her, stopped right to her right and wrapped an arm around her shoulders to pull her close. Shiho looked at Kamoshida, who was grinding his teeth while he kept a steady and focus gaze on her.

Shiho met his gaze and turned up her nose at him.

"Whomever she wants to spend her time with is her problem." Shiho's nose wrinkled as she looked at him. "As a teacher, you shouldn't be boasting about spending time with a student much younger than you. It doesn't do well to the reputation of a grown adult and professional teacher trying to date a sixteen year old student. Now if you will excuse us, we'll be late for class."

Kamoshida's face was red, veins pulsating around his temples and neck. He opened his mouth to say something but was not given the time to respond when Shiho maneuver herself and Ann around the teacher and walked away. The students around were commenting about the events, word spreading almost throughout the entire first floor by the time the two girls turned the corner. Ann broke free from Shiho's grasp and turned towards her with broadened eyes.

"Shiho what are you…" She trailed off when the dark hair girl just smiled at her.

"I did what I thought was right Ann, no regrets."

The blonde looked at her friend with her jaw dropped. Her mouth moved, but no sound came out until she stopped and then she started giggling. "Oh whoa! Shiho you're so cool!"

"If it means standing up for you Ann, I'll be the coolest." The dark hair girl said with a giggling fit of her own. She laughed out loud when the blonde smacked her arm.

"Ah! Now you just turned it totally lame!" The blonde smiled at her friend with misty eyes, the dark hair girl noticed and sighed.

"Why are you crying now?"

"Because…" Ann rubbed her eyes, drying her tears and smiling brightly. "I really want to meet the guy who gave you back your smile."

Shiho's eyes crinkle as her lips tugged upward for the smile Ann was gushing about. Her gaze darted towards a set of stairs where she saw a redhead young man looking in her direction with his golden-brown eyes. The young man noticed he had been caught, quickly turned around, walking up the stairs and disappeared. The dark hair girl's stomach flip in a ticklish manner as a blush appeared on her cheeks at the sight of the guy Ann wanted to meet. She tore her eyes away from the stairs towards a Ann who looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Shiho coughed into her right fist, looking away and hiding the smile that appeared on her face.

"You'll probably meet him sooner or later, Ann."

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 _4/14 Thursday Afternoon, Afterschool_

"Did you have to avoid me all day, Shirou-kun?"

"I just didn't want to get in the way of you and Takamaki-san." Shirou stated with a sigh as he turned and looked at Shiho walked into the alleyway in front of the school. He crossed his arms and looked at her, lips tugged down as he let air escaped his nostrils. His gaze narrowed as he watched her. "Are you sure it's fine to aggravated Kamoshida like that? He will get violent with you if you keep this up."

Shiho snorted and crossed her arms, shaking her head and raising an eyebrow as she watched the redhead. "Trust me Shirou-kun, that man already has it against me thanks to what happen during the Rally. And besides, I've heard that he was asking for me in his office so he could probably…beat me. Hrm…"

The girl bit her lips, her fingers digging into her forearms as her eyes glazed over. Shirou frowned as he watched the and let out a sigh. "So…what is it you want to do?"

The girl looked up, her eyes bright and narrowed. "I want to go back."

"Back…?" He blinked as his eyebrows furrowed and then—"What…!? No!"

"Why not!?" She took a step forward and glared at him. "Shirou-kun…that world had a totally different version of Kamoshida…one that indulges in his own desires so much so that the school turned into a castle. There has to be something we can do to stop him!"

"Shiho-san, you're being reckless." He shook his head sharply, clenching his fist tightly as he felt his stomach tightened up. He felt like beating himself for being so careless that he now had to deal with this. "I told you yesterday that world is completely dangerous, full of all kinds of enemies that can kill you with ease—and I mean kill, as in when you get kill you die."

The girl pursed her lips at him and took a step forward. "You don't think that I'm willing to take the risk? If we can find a way to stop Kamoshida, even if it's a small chance…I willing to take that risk just to stop the abuse that man has on my team, on Ann and on me!"

Shirou leaned back as the girl kept taking steps closer to him, her teeth bare and eyes broad and bright. He looked away, gnawing his lips.

 _'It's not like she's wrong—there is a way to stop Kamoshida…Kill the Shade, or Shadow of Kamoshida…and the real Kamoshida dies. That's a solution—but not one I'm willing to take and I can bet that neither would Suzui-san…but…it could be the solution I need to get her to back off. Yes…by telling her that the only way to fix this problem would be by killing Kamoshida, then she should give up on this thing. I can't have her accidentally stumbling into Forte's business…if Forte ever found out that another person was involve in this Distorted World shenanigans, then she will definitely do something bad to her…I can't let that happen!'_

It was decided, he opened his mouth to give her the solution she most likely she didn't want. "Ki—!"

"Nyahehe! You're absolutely right my lady! There is a way to stop Kamoshida from within his Palace."

Both teenagers went frigid at the familiar voice. The two looked around, their eyes darting from left and right to see where the voice had come from.

"Wha…?" Shiho trailed off as she looked down and saw a black cat with blue eyes sitting between herself and Shirou. Her eyes went wide and she took a step back. "Morgana…?"

"In the flesh." The cat talked, licking his paws and his eyes glittering as he looked at the two teenagers. He then looked at the entrance of the alleyway and snorted. "Oh here they are."

The sound of two hurried pair of footsteps reached the hears of the two teenagers. Two Shujin male students skidded right into the alleyway, the two boys breathed harshly, faced flushed and eyes narrowed. The redhead's eyes went wide when he recognize the blonde dyed hair from one of the students as he stalked forward, his brown eyes focused on the cat as Shiho moved out of the way.

"Morgana what the effed was that!? Why you take off—huh!?" Sakamoto's rant stopped as he finally noticed him and Shiho in the alleyway. The frizzy hair fellow transfer student, Amamiya, blinked a couples times and tilted his head as he regarded the redhead..

"Emiya-san?"

"Yep! Now that we're all gather, let's start this meeting!" Morgana hissed loudly as he licked his paws, everyone looked down at him. Shirou froze at that—

"You two…can hear the cat…?" Shiho eyes went wide at his question as she recoiled back and looked at Amamiya and Sakamato. In turn, the opposing students returned the look.

"Are you for real!? How…how can you hear Morgana!?" Sakamoto took a step back and pointed his right index finger at them sharply. Shiho in turn took a step forward her jaw dropped and pointed right back at him.

"Why can 'you' hear Morgana!?"

Shirou looked between the two teenagers in confusion, before he looked at Amamiya who watched the scene with a raised brow. The frizzy hair teen met his gaze and shrugged.

"Are you two…a Persona users too, Emiya-san?"

"…too?" Shirou parroted numbly— _'Other Persona users…the Black Mask Assassin is a Persona user as well…shit!'_

Shiho let out a small gasp and looked at the two opposing teenagers as she took a step closer. "Sakamoto-kun you have a Per—!" Her words were cut off when Shirou briskly grabbed her right arm with his left hand and pulled her back. The girl stumble back, until she was staring at the redhead's back. "Shirou!"

"Hey what's the big idea!?" Sakamoto balled his fists, teeth tight and bare as he took a readied stance to intervene at the rough treatment of the dark hair girl. Shirou agreed that he too would be angry if he saw someone treating a girl like that, and he would make sure to apologize later—but now wasn't the time.

"Shiho-san…stand back, this might be a double cross." He said with gritted teeth as he glared at the two students in front of him. He focused as he bit down hard on the inside of his cheeks and grounded out. "Trace-on…!"

The hammer was cocked and the circuits in his body began to heat up. His eyes sharpened as he held his empty hands opened and at the ready for any sudden movements. Morgana seemed to noticed the rather quick escalation and ran towards a trash can, jumping on top of it and hissed loudly.

"Hey! Hey!" The cat screamed, grabbing everyone's attention towards him as he glared Shirou. "What's up with you!? I knew you were a skeptic like blondie over there, but you're taking it to a whole new level! Calm down! I told you that we were gonna be meeting soon yesterday didn't I!? I want us to work together! Not fight!"

"What!?" Sakamoto growled as he glared with squinting eyes at the redhead, who raised an eyebrow slightly at the look. "No way! That guy is sucking it up to Kamoshida!"

"What…?" Shirou blink a couple of times at the accusation, his stance relaxing slightly. Shiho seeing this, placed a hand on his shoulder and he looked back her seeing her eyes glistening a little as she bit her lip. He sighed and looked at the glaring blonde. "What do you mean sucking up to Kamoshida?"

"I saw you fixing something for the bastard and the way he was congratulating you—and everyone's been talking about you always going to him and asking for favors." The dyed blonde accused with a narrowed eyes and tight fists. Shirou frowned at this as he tilted his head to the side.

"I haven't been doing anything like that…"

Shiho stepped beside him and looked at Sakamoto as she held an arm in front of Shirou. "I think you fell for the rumors the school likes to make up Sakamoto-kun. Shirou-kun did help Kamoshida-san with a faulty air conditioner—but he hasn't done anything more for him."

"Not that I would help someone like him…" The redhead grumbled as memories of the beaten up and crying Shiho filled his mind. Sakamoto blinked at this looked at the two with squinted eyes, then sighed and started kicking off dirt from the ground.

"Shit…I guess I was acting all reckless again…I fell for all the school's stupid gossip…" He looked at the redhead with an embarrass. "My bad…it's been some shitty days…"

"It's okay." Shirou didn't care much for the accusations, his mind was still reeling at the fact that two teenagers in front of him had knowledge of the Distorted World. Amamiya looked at the lessening tension and surprised filled atmosphere and snapped his fingers, bringing all eyes on him.

"So…we cool?"

Silence reign on the alleyway—then Shiho busted out laughing at the words. "I guess…?"

Sakamoto scratched the back of his head with tilt and a grimace on his face. "For real…I feel like a total moron for believing all the stupid crap of the school…"

"Not surprising, you act like a moron." Morgana replied easily.

"What was that asshole!?"

"Again with this…" Amamiya sighed as he looked at Shiho and narrowed eye Shirou. "So I guess we have a few things to talk about huh? Want to go first? Or should we?"

"I think it's best you start." The redhead responded evenly as he looked at the frizzy hair teen. He was still on edge, he wasn't calming down until he could confirm that these two had nothing to do with Black Mask. Shiho looked at him worriedly and placed a comforting hand on his arm, grabbing his attention.

"Calm down Shirou-kun, you don't need to be so tense."

"Don't worry about it, I would be the same if I was in his position." Amamiya assured as he nodded and adjusted his glasses. Sakamoto slumped forward slightly, hands on his pockets while Morgana stood attentively atop of the trashcan. "Well…"

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.

"So…" Shirou started slowly as he looked at Amamiya with the right side of his lips quirked up. "You got into the Distorted Marble—"

"Palace!" Morgana hissed, blue eyes narrowed into slits as he glared at him.

"Right, right, Palace—!" The redhead flinched as he look at the cat and held up his to gesture his surrender, then turned towards Amamiya once more. "So you go into the Palace by pure chance? Because of accidentally saying the key words through an app in your phone?"

"Yep." Amamiya nodded as he showed off the app on his phone to Shirou. The redhead gulped as he looked at the star-eye design for the app which was identical to the tattoo in his left hand.

"What…?" He had no response to the fact that a phone had access to another dimension. The existence of magic had whirled his brain around when he learned of its existence the first time, especially all the terminology and history. But it was simply so weird and confusing to come into terms when the supernatural acted up through technology.

Amamiya pocketed his phone and gave the redhead a look. "Why are you so surprised by the app thing? Don't you have on too?"

Shirou unconsciously grasped his bandaged hand, before flinching when he realized what he had done and looked away. "I…have other means."

"…" Amamiya just looked at him in silence, twirling some locks of hair. The redhead let out a small breath escape him when the dark hair transfer student didn't ask anymore question and instead towards the cat.

Shiho had finished her situation and the events of yesterday to Sakamoto, she watched as the blonde glare at the ground and scratched the back of his head rapidly. "Seriously, eff that asshole…he beats on kids and then goes out smiling like he's a star or something. Suzui, why didn't you tell anyone any of this!"

"You know why…" Shiho looked away, gripping her left bice tightly. It made the blonde clicked his tongue and kick dust off the ground.

"Damnit…isn't there anything we can do?"

"That's why I brought you here!" Morgana chimed in loudly with his tail waggling, everyone turned towards him. The cat gave a feline smirk and turned towards Amamiya. "Hey, Ren! Get us into the Palace, I want to explain things better over there!"

"Are you sure? You said earlier that things were hectic in there because of those freaky tentacles." Shirou's eyes widened at that and looked at the frizzy hair student.

"You faced off against the Servant?"

"Stop with the questions!" Morgana hissed in annoyance as he rolled his big blue eyes. "Get us into the Metaverse and I'll explain everything!"

"I got it, I got it…"

Shirou just frowned. "Metaverse…?"

Then a weird sensation hit him, and he felt the world shift as his Distorted Marker burned slightly. He looked at his hand with a raised brow before directing his eyes to the red sky.

"Whoa! Suzui, that's your outfit?" Shirou looked down at the excited question from Sakamoto. He blinked as he took in the appearances of the two male students.

Amamiya's outfit consisted of a black ankle-length tailcoat, a high-necked waistcoat with gold accents, black jogger-style pants, brown-black winkle-pickers, and a pair of red gloves. On his face was a mask, colored in black and white, birdlike domino mask. The quiet and unassuming teen stood a little straighter than before and his lips curled up into a smug smirk—he gave vibes of a gentlemanly scoundrel.

Sakamoto on the other hand looked more like thug with his matching black jacket and pants with knee pads, a red ascot, combat boots, a pair of yellow gloves. The skull mask and typical slouch gave nothing but a brusque air to him.

"She looks like a gangster." Amamiya said as he looked at the girl. Sakamoto nodded enthusiastically as he appraised her appearance.

"She totally does!"

"Really?" Shiho looked down on herself, stabbing a spear down on the floor—"Wha!?"

"Hey keep it down!" Morgana shush as he jumped into the middle of the group, his form having shifted back to his caricature self.

"But why do I have a weapon!? I mean…a spear…?" Shiho said as she looked at the silver spear on her hand. Amamiya just made a gesture towards her.

"Just make it look as if your holstering the thing away, it'll disappear." He put a hand on his pocket and brought out a long silver knife that shouldn't have fitted on his pocket. And then just as he pulled it out, he put it back in—he brought his hand forth and showed that it was empty. "See?"

"For real…?" Shiho muttered as she swung the spear carefully, as to not hit anyone, and put it on her back. She let go of the handle, and was surprise not to hear a clang of the weapon crashing on the floor. She tried to look at her back and blinked behind her tiger mask. "Whoa…"

Sakamoto turned towards him and blinked. "Oi, Emiya, I thought you had a Persona…"

Shirou looked down at himself and saw that he was still on his school uniform. He clenched the hand where the Distorted Marker was and looked at the group. "I do, it's just that I have to force the transformation…is that not normal?"

"No, no it isn't." Morgana revealed much to Shirou's unsurprise. He was expecting this kind of answer as he was aware of something not feeling right with his powers. "When someone awakens to their Persona, you materialize an outfit which symbolizes your rebellion. The only exceptions that I have seen being when you first awaken—and from what I saw yesterday, that wasn't your first day using your powers…though…I never saw you using your Persona…"

"Huh?" Sakamoto blinked at the explanation then scratched the back of his head. "Again with the exposition. Anyways, my Persona is Captain Kidd! Here I'll—!"

"Don't you dare show it off now you monkey!"

Shiho sighed and placed a hand on her chest, her eyes travelling towards the normal cloth redhead. "Mine's Irene Adler."

"Arsene." Amamiya answered simply as he started to play with the locks of hair sprawled over his white mask. "What's yours Emiya?"

"I…" That question hit much deeper than what he had thought possible ' _What ia my Persona's name…?'_ "I don't know…"

"What…?" Sakamoto frowned as Morgana gave Shirou a narrowed look.

"Hmm, I think I can guess what's going on."

Shirou looked at the cat with a neutral gaze. "Really?"

"Yeah…I mean, you can still get your rebellious outfit on, so that means you haven't lost your rebellious side! But…" Morgana looked at him intently from head to toe and then nodded to himself. "Yep, that's definitely it…while you have the will to rebel, you haven't taken that single step forward to commit yourself entirely to your rebellion. That's a good reason as to why you don't even know your Persona's name…while the Persona hasn't turned back into your Shadow entirely, it lurks in the surface of your heart—you have the strength and will to fight, but you haven't put your heart into it."

Shirou looked at his bandaged hand, clenching his hand tightly as he frowned at it in disbelief. _'Is that it…!? I don't have access to the power I awakened when I save Illya because I'm not committed!? What kind of reasoning is that!? Haven't I shown my commitment by sacrificing everything for the safety of my family!? What more…what more should I sacrifice…?'_

 _ **"…your hesitation."**_

 _'I'm not hesitating…!'_

"Whoa…but…why?" Sakamoto asked as he looked at the cat who shrugged in response.

"Who knows…that's his issues to resolve." Morgana said plainly but gave the redhead an approving smirk. "Still…even without a Persona, he can fight incredibly well and is plenty of strong! I saw him taking out those freaky octopus monsters with his swords! So I'm not gonna vote to take him out of this operation."

"Shirou-kun." The redhead blinked back to focused on the here and now, and turned towards Shiho who looked at him with narrowed eyes behind her bird mask. "If you need my help, don't be afraid to ask. You got it?"

He sigh in response looked away from her, closed his eyes and clenched his bandaged hand. "Trace—!"

Twenty-seven circuits fired up deep in him. The circuits traveled throughout his very being, reaching the deepest part of him until their brushed against a hot fire of rebellion. He snapped his eyes opened and—

"ON!" Fire engulfed him, dissipating quickly to reveal his distorted—rebellious form. "Don't worry Shiho-san, I can handle it."

He ignored her concerned look, while Sakamoto grasped his chin with his left hand as he looked at him up and down. He shrugged and placed his hands on his pockets. "That looks weird dude, what is supposed to be."

Shirou sighed and shook his head. "I have no idea…"

The loud sound of snapping fingers made them look at Amamiya, as he stood with a single hand on his pockets. He looked at the feline creature. "Morgana, what was it you wanted us to work together for?"

"Humph! How business-like…but I like that, totally makes you feel like a real professional!" Morgana grinned as he jumped up into the trash-can he had stood on top back in reality and pointed at them. "Listen up! There is a way to stop Kamoshida for real!"

"What!?" Sakamoto gasped as he looked with broad eyes at the cat. Shiho took a step forward, a fist close to her heart and her teeth gritted tightly. "How!?"

Morgana smirked at the attention. "Good, you seem to be pretty motivated! So here's how will do it—we change his heart!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…huh…what?" Sakamoto asked what was on everyone's head. Morgana laughed at their blank looks.

"Listen! Changing the heart of the Shadow is something that can be done by stealing their distorted desires, the Treasure. If a Palace is manifested by twisted desires, then it stands to reason that the core of such a place is the Treasure. So, what do you think will happen if we still Kamoshida's treasure?"

"…his desires go away…" Shiho murmured as her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Amamiya hummed at that and looked at the cat with pursed lip.

"And he becomes an honest man?"

Sakamoto looked at him in surprised and then turned towards Morgana. "For real…! But, don't we want him to get punish for what he has done?"

"Does it matter?" Shirou asked as he raised the headband slightly to let his eyes gazed at them. His brain was racking over the new information revealed—wondering how he could take this dangerous venture by himself. "As long as we can get the man to stop abusing the students, then it should be fine."

"Humph, you're not that ambitious or aggressive are you?" Morgana questioned before shaking his head. "But listen, if we steal Kamoshida's treasure, not only will he turn into a decent man…he will also convince his sins to everyone he can find! Since he doesn't have the twisted desires to keep what he has done hidden, he will try to get them off his chest by revealing them to everyone who can hear."

"That's…that's awesome!" Sakamoto grinned as he gave Amamiya a punch in the shoulder. The dark dressed teen huffed a smirk.

"Finally…some justice…" Shiho murmured with a shaky breath, getting soft looks from Sakamoto and Amamiya. But—

Shirou looked at them sharply, fist tightening as he heard them. _'I need to break this…now. I can't let them go into that place with a Servant running wild!'_

"This sounds too good to be true…" Shirou narrowed his eyes further when he caught the attention of the others. He looked down at the cat and gestured toward the castle. "What's the catch?"

"…" Morgana sighed and nodded. "Your perceptive…but, yeah…there is a catch."

"What is it?" Amamiya asked as Morgana looked at them.

"There is a possibility that Kamoshida might die."

"What!?" Sakamoto's outcry made Shiho and Amamiya go frigid as they shook their heads. The feline sighed as he glared at them.

"Look, if you steal someone's desire then there's possibility that you could cause a mental shutdown." That caught Shirou's noticed, his eyes narrowing as he remembered the method the Black Mask used to caused a Mental Shutdown in Marisbury—and it didn't involve stealing something. "By stealing someone desires, we would be robbing exactly that…their desires, all of them. Again, this is just a possibility! I mean, this is the only way we have in taking down Kamoshida!"

"But that's going way to far!" Sakamoto took a step back as he looked at Amamiya with wide eyes as sweat pour down from behind his skull mask. "Right…?"

"I don't want to kill him…" He admitted as he looked down and took a step back. Morgana clenched his paws tightly and began jumping up and down.

"What!? You can't back out of this!"

"We can and we will." Shirou cut in quickly as he whirled around, sending magical energy into his Marker to get them out of the Metaverse. "Killing someone, even by accident is a huge responsibility to bear…and no one here is willing to bear that. We'll go back and figure something else."

 _'And by we, I mean me…if someone here will bear any responsibility for the danger and consequences, then let it be me…no need for them to sacrifi—!'_

"I'll do it…" Shiho's voice filtered into his ears, making him stop from taking another step. He turned slowly to look at the girl as she stared right back at him with narrowed and bright eyes. Behind her Morgana, Amamiya and Sakamoto looked at each other and then at the girl with broadened eyes.

Shirou let out a dry, "What?", escape him as the girl took a firm step forward and pointed at herself.

"I said that I will do it. I'm willing to bear that responsibility."

Shirou bit into his cheeks, squinting his eyes at Shiho. "Are you? Shiho, I get it that you want to bring Kamoshida to justice but—!"

"No you don't!" She stated firmly as she marched right towards him and began to jab her finger at his chest pointedly. "Didn't I tell you already? If it means stopping him from abusing the others, me and Ann…I'll do anything! Shirou…I'm tired…I'm so, so tired of taking his bullshit…of seeing his stupid fake grin…of people praising him so fucking blindly! I'm done with that!"

"Shiho-san…!" Shirou grabbed her hand, stopping her jabbing as he looked at her. He took a deep breath and released it through his nostril. "You're being too reckless! You—!"

"Wouldn't you do the same to protect your family!?"

Shirou recoiled back, letting go of her and looking at the dark hair girl as if he had been struck. He gritted his teeth and looked away. "That was…a low blow…"

"I…" Shiho's eyes glistened slightly and she bowed her head, but then she bared her teeth and looked up with bright eyes. "I know what you're trying to do…you're still trying to help me, even when I can fight…you don't want me to get hurt or to end up regretting my choices…but…but I can't stop…not now!"

"…" He returned his gaze at her and blinked when she bowed before him.

"Shirou-kun…please, even though I know I've asked of you already way to much…please will you stand by me again? You've already got yourself involved for my sake yesterday and…well, in the past as well when you were trying to help me…so please, can you come with me so we can do this together? I know that the possibility of Kamoshida's death could be horrible for you…and that you are busy with your others duty…but I'm willing to take full responsibility for everything." She bit her lip and then her shoulders sagged, shaking her head and taking a step back. "I understand if you want to leave, Shirou-kun…I can't and won't begru—!"

"Geez, you're such an idiot…" She looked up and saw him gripping the bridge of his nose. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow and shook his head. The girl flushed and looked away, feeling as she was being scolded by the simple gesture. "After all that rambling what other choice do I have but to go with you on this reckless endeavor."

"Shirou-kun…" She looked back at him and smiled, he just sighed and looked behind her towards the others. Morgana noticed this, jumped, fisted the air and grinned.

"Yes!" Shiho jumped at the loud cry, having forgotten completely about the others as she turned towards them. Amamiya and Sakamoto both shared a look and nodded as the cat directed his focus towards them. "What about you two?"

"I'm in!" The blonde punched the open palm of his hand with a sharp grin. The dark cloth teen smirked and nodded.

"I'm game."

"Then let's find that treasure!" Morgana stated as he started walking towards the castle. "First let us infiltrate the Palace!"

"Wait!" Shirou called out, making the group turned towards him. Sakamoto sighed as he gave squinting eye look at the redhead.

"What now?"

"There's still a rather large elephant in the room—what are we going to do with the Servant?"

"The what?" Amamiya questioned as he once more played with locks of his hair, his eyes focused on him. Shirou sighed, wondering on how to approach the situation without revealing to much of the Mage's Association or himself.

 _'Screw it, I'll wing it and play it blunt.'_

"Servant's the guy controlling those tentacles monsters, you have seen them right?" Shirou looked at the two male and cat, crossing his arms and tilting his head.

"Ugh…" Shiho gagged and the redhead grunted when he saw her face pale considerably.

"Yeah…" Amamiya confirmed as he placed a red gloved hand over his face and shook his head with a shudder. Beside him Sakamoto gagged himself and growled.

"Those things were swimming around the first time we got stuck here, one of them barely caught my leg while jumping over some cages!" The blonde shuddered. "And then they busted right out of the floor when I got my Persona…man, talk about effed up shit…"

Shirou nodded at the confirmation he had received. "Well, those things are part of the arsenal of the Servant we'll be encountering. Since we're going through with this, I might as well give you some fair warnings and how if we tackle the Servant, we should retreat—immediately."

"What!? Why?" Sakamoto looked at him with wide eyes and shook his head. Both Morgana and Shiho turned towards him, the girl tilted her head with furrowed brows.

"Shirou you were fighting against that creep just fine! Why would you—?"

"I wasn't fighting against him at all." Shirou reminded her as he turned to address everyone. "That Servant, Caster, was barely paying any mind to me and was sending those monsters to attack me…the Servant is a total unknown for now, so we don't know what he is capable off. For all we know the Servant's Noble Phantasm could be something as crazy as dropping the equivalent of a nuclear bomb in our face."

"Isn't that…" The blond started, a little shaky at the revelation. "…to much?"

"What's a Noble Phantasm?" Amamiya raised an eyebrow at the term, Shirou looked at him briefly.

"Think of it as super move, a very dangerous secret super move."

"How exactly do you know so much, redhead?" Morgana crossed his arms and squinted his big blue eyes at him. Shirou looked square into the eyes of the cat, hummed and then nodded to himself.

"I don't trust you enough to tell you." _'Not that I would tell you all even if I trusted you. This is sensitive information, a live or die type of info. I don't need to saddle any of you with the responsibility or the looming threat of dealing with the likes of the Association'_

"Damn…you don't hold back?" Sakamoto grimace as he took a step back. Shirou snorted and shook his head.

"No, I don't."

Morgana hummed. "So if we see bug eye creep we pull back—fine, not that it won't matter! Since we will be sneaking by!"

"Sneaking, huh." Amamiya repeated as he looked at the cat move forward.

"Yep, now follow me!"

They saw the feline creature waddle away—the others followed the cat without much struggle. Shirou looked at them walked away and bowed his head.

 _'Am I doing the right thing by giving in so easily to this? Damn it…I should've tried harder to dissuade them out doing this…'_

"Hey Emiya-san?" Amamiya's call made him blink and looked up at the dark teen. The frizzy hair young man gestured at him to move as he had stayed behind. "Let's go."

"Yeah…" He moved forward, keeping up with the others. They crossed the wooden bridge for the castle's fortress wall, making it to the castle entrance they looked around. Sakamoto blinked as he saw one of the three doors covered by wooden planks.

"Huh…what happened to the door?"

Morgana turned towards Shirou with squinting eyes. "Someone here cut the door down."

The blonde grasped his chin and nodded, impressed. "Whoa! That's pretty badass, who was it?"

"Heh! It doesn't matter." Amamiya said with a smirk as he caught the look the cat gave the redhead. He looked at everyone present and gave them a smug look. "Let's begin the operation."

"Yeah!"

Morgana grinned widely and pointed forward. "Lead on Joker!"

"…who's Joker?"

* * *

 **Author's Note  
**

 **Heya! It's been quite a while now, but it's been a busy semester of College. I've still got so many assignments, projects and exams on the horizon that it's staggering.**

 **But, I've got this chapter revised and ready for release. Admittedly I've been rather busy and so stress out that if there's any grammar mistake here, those were honest mistakes. Once the semester is done, I can take my time in fixing the past chapters and those coming in the future.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter. While not as explosive or full of action like the last chapter this was still to fun.**

 **Until next time, and let's hope this semester doesn't keep throwing so many low kicks as it has been doing consistently.**

 **Adios!**


	9. Don't You Trust Me? The Reveal of Two

_4/17 Sunday_

The sound of 'Clink-Clank-Clink!' echoed through the sea food restaurant, plates and drinks being served by the young waitresses. The busy atmosphere and glistening glow of the food enticing the people on the streets to enter into the small establishment.

"Aah~! That taste so good~!" Ann moaned as she munched the fish from her plate, both hands caressing her reddened cheeks. Shiho chuckled low at her reaction as she took to eating her own food with slow and steady mouthfuls.

"Hmm, you should clean up that drool off your chin Ann."

"Huh!?" The blonde flinched and swiped her chin roughly with her forearm. She stopped, frowned and looked at the chuckling Shiho. "Ha, ha, very funny."

"Hehehe…" The dark hair girl smiled shakily, her head resting on her opened right palm as she rubbed her eyes with her free hand. Ann raised an eyebrow and reached forward, grabbing her friend's hand and squeezing it.

"Seriously, Shiho…what have you been doing that got you so tired?"

Shiho smiled at the words as she looked to the side.

 _…Clank-Clank-Clank! heavy armor footsteps filled the halls as dozens of knights moved quickly._

 _"They are around here!"_

 _"Catch the thieves!"_

 _They ran towards a door, slammed it opened and continue with the pursuit of their enemy. Clank-Clank-Clank-clank…clank…the noise faded as the last knight passed the door and disappeared through it._

 _A minute passed, then slow and soft rustling of clothing filled the hall._

 _"Are they gone?" A nervous female voice asked._

 _"I think so…" A boyish voice murmured. Dark shadows darted down to the floor from the chandelier dangling up in the ceiling._

 _Ren sighed with his hands inside his coat pockets, he looked at the blushing Shiho with haggard eyes. "This is seriously becoming a problem."_

 _"No kidding…" Ryuji groaned as he stretched his legs. "I haven't run so much and so many times in a long ass time…"_

 _"I don't think I can breathe…" Morgana panted in exhaustion as he laid on the floor._

 _"Shiho-san…" Shirou started, the cat snapped his head towards him and hissed._

 _"Codenames, Archer…!"_

 _"Mafiosa…" Archer amended, his cheeks coloring the same color as his mask. He looked at the bowing girl. "That outfit of yours is seriously clashing too much with the environment…"_

 _"It's not my fault!"_

 _"Hey what was that noise!?" The distant shout of a knight made the intruders jumped in alert, all of them looking at Mafiosa with incredulous eyes. The girl just bowed her head._

 _"I…really need more practice with my sneaking around…don't I…"_

 _"Let's get out for now." Ren called out as he offered the girl a crooked smile that suited his codename, Joker. "We made enough progress with all our running."_

 _"There they are!" Two knights cried out as they caught the teens and cat off guard._

 _The thieves all turned tail and ran—again._

"No reason…"

Ann squinted her eyes. "Uhuh, as long as it isn't anything bad."

"Trust me, it really isn't!"

"Hmhmm…is that why you were in that sketchy toy gun shop behind the arcade?"

 _…gunfire filled the halls of the castle, along with loud gurgling cries bouncing off the halls wall._

 _"Ugh! Unfair!" A pixie Shadow bellow out as she dissolved into black particles, bullets quickening the process._

 _"You infantile brats—!" A flying woman in a silky red dress recoiled back, then was blasted apart by a shotgun blast._

 _The approaching Shadows which had managed to ambushed the thieves found themselves with the tables turned. The Shadows were either gunned down or forced to retreat behind cover as the thieves took shots at the enemy._

 _"This is so awesome!" Skull, cried out with a grin as he hid behind cover and sneaked views at the battle. His hands trembled with excitement as he readied his shotgun to take another shot._

 _"Skull!" Archer scolded in his perched up placed on the chandelier, sniping any Shadow that poked their head out of their cover with his bow and arrows._

 _A Shadow, a green horse floating about, came out of a corner and charged forward with a roar—it was quickly shot down by the merciless firepower of Mafiosa's sniper. The girl pulled her weapon back, leaning against the sofa she was using for cover and smiled proudly at her handywork._

 _"This was a great idea Skull-kun! Getting guns makes things so much easier!"_

 _"I know!"_

 _"Enough!" Joker snapped his finger, as he grabbed everyone's attention. "We need to go, we already made enough of a racket here. Mona, where to?"_

 _"Hrm…" The cat grumbled from his hiding spot before he perked up and looked at the slightly opened window. "We can climb through there…if we use that we can avoid the enemies here!"_

 _"Then let's go, more Shadows are coming this way." Archer said as he dropped from the chandelier, keeping a watchful eye for any more enemies as he walked backwards to regroup._

 _Mafiosa moved towards the window, letting her eyes wandered for Archer's strong and reliable back—she stopped when she noted a pixie sneaking towards Archer blindside—her eyes wide behind her bird mask, she pulled her weapon into position and fired a powerful and critical shot towards the offending enemy._

 _"Graaaaaaah!" Archer jumped slightly at the cry and looked at the dying enemy, he turned to look at Mafiosa who smiled at him as she holstered her weapon._

 _"I said I was going watched your back, didn't I?"_

 _Archer just snorted at that and nodded, moving with them to proceed with their plan…_

"So what? You know I always liked all those gangster films you showed me." Shiho defended herself as she looked away from Ann. The blonde smiled at the blushing girl.

"Well I had to somehow help give you your dose of edginess, right?"

"Don't call it that, Miss Villlain…" Shiho giggled at that as the blonde laughed alongside her. Ann looked at her plate took another spoonful of food and ate it, she moaned once more.

"It's so good~!" Ann grabbed some of the food from her plate and shoved it into her friends direction with a smile. "Seriously Shiho! You need to taste this octopus and—!"

"Urgh! No! No thanks!" Shiho gagged at the sight of the cooked octopus. Her throat tasted like acid as a vile rose up at the dark color sauce saturating the food.

"Seriously…since when did you hate this stuff Shiho?"

 _…the scream that pierced the air was bloodcurdlingly loud and long._

 _"Skull calm down!" Mona shouted as he swiped his blade towards the tentacles wrapping around the blonde's body._

 _"How I'm supposed to calm down whe—oh god! It's getting to my face!"_

 _"Archer! Mafiosa! Hurry up!" Mona shouted as he turned around, his furred bristling at the nightmarish sight._

 _Tentacles writhed and twitched erratically all around the hall. Spawning from the outside windows, floor, doors, vases and even from the cut and torn chunks of the defeated aquatic creatures thanks to Archer and Mafiosa's effort. They spammed in movement trying to wrapped around anything and anyone they could get their grasp on._

 _The only two who could definitely injured critically and defeat the foes were too busy saving a captured Joker—who was virtually useless when facing against these enemies as Arsene's dark powers did absolutely nothing to the monsters._

 _Archer moved swiftly, his red open skirt flowing through the air as he intercepted the tentacles attempting to pull Joker apart. The redhead twirled, his blades sang and the dark thief was freed from his bonds._

 _"Thanks…" Joker glared at the tentacles, scratching his hair furiously and shaking his head._

 _"Just stay behind me, Jo—!" Archer's words were cut short when he heard a surprised feminine shout reached his ears. The redhead whirled around just in time to see Mafiosa be captured by one of the aquatic creatures—_

 _Mafiosa struggled against her bonds, fighting fruitlessly as she was dragged forwards and—"Ah!"_

 _She froze as she stared at the round mouth and endless rows and rows of sharp teeth. The aquatic creature that had her captured opened its gaping mouth wide to eat her. At the simple fact she struggled adamantly to escape. She ground her teeth as she leaned back, the fish-like, foul and bloodstained stench made her want to hurled in disgust—_

 _Fortunately, she didn't need to suffer any longer as she was free from her capture by the timely intervention of Archer. Dozens of neat and savaged slashes where performed and the monster was rendered into pieces._

 _Mafiosa breathed harshly as she looked at the redhead. He turned towards the still capture Skull, but— "Be careful, don't get sloppy just because I'm watching your back."_

 _"You're right Archer…" She smiled at the words, and nodded. Renew fury and determination spurned inside her as she ripped her mask away. "Then let me show you, that you don't need to keep worrying about me! Irene!"_

 _As her Persona appeared behind her, glaring at the disgusting sight before her—everything turned white as blessed light consumed the hallway…_

"I just…" Shiho shuddered in disgust as Ann pulled the tentacle food away from her. "Don't have an appetite for it…sorry…"

"Don't worry about it, it isn't like I was forcing you to eat it." The blonde smiled brightly at her friend. She blinked, looking down and a little startled as she pulled her phone up.

"Everything okay Ann?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, it's just a text from the modeling agency…they want me to do a gig right about now…" Ann sighed at this, looking at Shiho with a slight crease. The dark hair girl chuckled at that.

"You don't want to go, right?"

"No, I really want to spend more time with you…but…"

"Don't worry so much!" Shiho scolded as she waved her friend off. "You have to go and do your stuff! I'm really looking forward for the next magazine you appear in!"

"Heh! I'll do my best then!" Ann pumped her fist with a smiled as Shiho giggled at the action. The blonder curiously looked at her friend and tilted her head in wonder. "But you'll be by yourself today…are you sure that's okay? What are you going to do for today?"

Shiho looked down at her lap, seeing the text message she had received.

 **Skull: We're going to the Palace?**

 **Joker: Yeah, let's try and finish the infiltration today.**

 **Archer: Understood.**

"Don't worry…I'll be busy with some school work."

.

.

.

.

 _4/17 Sunday ?_

"How far are we in the castle Mona?" Joker looked at the cat as the team sat around the dining table in the safe room. The cat gleamed over the map with squinting eyes.

"We're about the halfway point now, there seems to be a large hall if we continue from here…so it'll be difficult to sneak by if there's no cover around."

Mafiosa sighed at that, shuddering slightly. "As long as we don't cross path with those disgusting tentacles…"

"Man, how can you be so creeped out with those thing when you can one-shot them…?" Skull gritted his teeth as he swung crowbar harshly in mid-air. The girl looked at him, lips pursed.

"Because their disgusting that's why!"

"Just be on guard…" Archer murmured as he clenched his left hand, causing green energy to spark out and for two lines of circuits to appear on the left side of his exposed face. He nodded and looked at the team. "We've been facing many of those monster since yesterday…so be careful if the Servant shows up…"

"Yeah, if we see him we pull back, and find another way." Joker nodded in the redhead's direction, Archer responded in kind.

"But we're so close!" Mona groaned, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. Archer shook his head and glared down at the cat.

"We talked about this—!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know…" The cat sighed and looked at them. "So, we ready to continue?"

"Yeah!"

"Let's do this!"

"Let's go!"

The door of the safe room was opened slowly and slightly, five shadows darting from the opened space. The shadows moved down the hall, corner to corner, furniture along the way breaking as a red gloved snatched hidden treasures. Joker darted behind Mona, who looked around for any enemy and moved forward. The dark thief saw a barrel and it caught his attention, he moved towards with a flourished rolled and broke it with his gloved hands.

He pocketed the treasure, then frowned when he saw the black substances in his hands. "Black powder?"

"Hey, hurry up!" From around a corner Mona hissed at him. The dark thief shook his head, giving the black powder another and moving with the group.

They stopped as Ryuji slammed into a locked door and stumbled back. Mona looked at him with narrowed eyes while Joker moved towards the door, pulling out a lockpick. He looked at Archer, Mafiosa and Skull and nodded towards his back, the redhead quickly caught on onto his silent orders and moved to cover the dark thief, the others following suit. Joker started to fiddle with the lock as Mona stood beside him offering hushed advice on how to open the door.

The sound of a click made the lookout turned back to see Joker holding the door open and gesturing for them to follow. They move silently as they went through the doors and—

"Shit…!" Skull cursed as the rest of the thieves clicked their tongue or bit the inside of their cheeks as they saw a large chapel, with a statue glorifying Kamoshida—and way too much open space.

Joker moved forward slightly, pressing his back against the cover for his team and looked around at the desolate chapel. His eyes narrowed and shook his head, turning towards the thieves.

"I don't like this…"

"Joker…" Archer called out as he walked forward with his right arm covered in circuits marking and glowing green. "Let me check for traps."

"Yeah." Joker moved out of the way as the redhead took his spot. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and—

"Trace—!" Prana extended from right hand, into the floor and moved through it as it began to cover the chapel ground. "On!"

 _'Structural Analysis, design specifications for the entire chapel downloaded. Deeper analysis loading.'_ Archer nodded at this and tensed. _'If I had been using Structural Analysis like this in the real world, I would've burn myself out. All my abilities are enhanced inside the Palaces by a wide margin…if I had this much power on the real world, I would be more than glad to drown the Association with their own medicin—Composition material unknown. External prana mov—mo—m—!_

His eyes snapped opened, as he felt something foul and writhing move through the ground. He recoiled back, mouth opened as he turned to the others—

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

—from behind the group a multitude of tentacles sprouted out from the ground. The thieves flinched as the large, dark and slimy limbs wailed violently—hitting all the thieves with the force of a battering ram, sending them flying out of their cover.

The ground burst open as one tentacled creature flew after the airborne thieves. It moved towards Mona, mouth wide opened and salivating as it reached out with its tentacles—

"Mona! Irene light it up!" Mafiosa hurriedly removed her mask and let her Persona burst into action. The smug woman grinned, swiftly folded her umbrella with an audible 'ktic' and threw it at the creature all in one movement. The umbrella blurred through the air and hit the monsters right through its opened mouth, letting the creature to make a gurgling choking noise as it recoiled back. The umbrella then began to brightened up and exploded into a sparkling ball of light. The monster screeched as it was burned away.

The thieves flipped through the air as Irene disappear. Most of them landed with on their feet or knees, except for Skull who stumbled back and fell on his backside. The blonde groaned and shook his head, then looked to the spot where they had been moments ago, seeing it completely covered in a wall of writhing tentacles and creatures standing guard.

"Crap…we can't get out!"

"OOOOOoooOAAAAA…yes…yes! You will NOT! ESCAPE ME! Never again!"

Archer eyes went wide at the voice, then he hissed. "Damn! The Servant!"

They looked as in the center of the chapel, a dark mass of liquid started to pooled up—bubbling upwards until a shape formed. The dark silhouette bobbed from left to right, until the dark shade gave away to reveal the bulging eyes, stoned faced and sanguine robes of the Caster.

"You…" Caster droned out, his crazed eyes focused on the thieves. "I'll have the rejections of God violate your bodies!"

Joker glared at the bug eye Servant, his eyes flickered to the right of the enemy shoulder and saw passed it. He tensed and looked at the light color girl. "Mafiosa! Shoot the creep!"

Fingers move towards her mask even as she took a trembling step back. "Irene!" The Persona appeared in a burst of fire, twirling her umbrella as the air lightened up. She unleased a volley of pure white light. Soaring towards the dark Servant who looked stonily at the incoming attack—

CRACK!

The floor underneath burst, debris flew as six of the aquatic creatures jumped up, spreading their limbs wide right into the incoming light. The light met the impure flesh—

BOOM!

Loud screeches filled the air. The blessed attack pushed forward, but as the seconds ticked by it fizzled out. The chapel darkening once more revealed that four of the six monsters were left writhing, screeching and flinching as their flesh was scarred. Caster looked at monster squirm for an instant, eyes rolling towards where the thieves stood as he glided forward slowly.

"OoooOOOAAaaaa—! Indeed, indeed! Struggle for as long as—!?" Caster stopped, blinking as he the thieves weren't where they had been seconds ago. 'Krunch!' He perked up at the noise and whirled around just in time to see the young group jumping into the second floor behind him and slamming into the door, escaping the chapel. "You…!"

In the halls, the pack of thieves ran. Sweat rolled down their foreheads as they made a left—

"Crap!" Skull gasped as dozens of tentacles whipped towards his head. Archer hands blurred and the tentacles all fell uselessly down on the floor. The redhead looked upfront and saw the hall darkening, the wet noises and screeching echoing into their ears.

"We need to get out of here now!" Mona crouched as the darkness in front of them grew closer. Mafiosa stepped in front of the group, walking forward as her mask burned away.

"I'll create a path! Let's go!" Irene smiled smugly, placing her umbrella as makeshift shield. She began to twirled it as it light up with pure white light. Mafiosa charged, followed by the thieves—

KRSH! KRANCHK!

Obscene and wet noises filled the halls as the phantom thieves lunged into the swelling damp darkness and writhing tentacles. Tentacles tried to maneuver around the smug Persona, but all of the appendages were cut swiftly by the blades of Archer. They movement was precise and successful. They moved forward with no sign of stop—

CRASH!

The debris made the thieves flinched, jumping to their right as the wall towards their left exploded. The wall had entire collapsed as a mass of tentacle destroyed the structure, revealing the cool winds from the outside castle. Joker recoiled when a loud and grating screech blew into his ears and saw multiple teeth inches away from his face. The dark thief could only gasp, eyes wide as the stench of rotting flesh, blood and filth assaulted his nose. He tried to step back, but the monster already was closing its mouth around his face.

SLASH!

The creature's mouth successfully closed, but passed by Joker as it was split in half from a downward cut. Archer landed in front of the still thief, and looked at him. "Joker, are you alright?"

"…" The dark thief looked at him, shook his head and gave him a shaky grin. "Yeah, just caught off guard…"

"No time for talking!" Skull roar as he pulled out his shotgun, the Persona of Mafiosa disappearing as the female thief took a step back. The girl was heaving as she regrouped with the others and away from the encroaching mass of tentacles. Mona clicked his tongue, then his fur stood on end and he whirled around and saw a mass of tentacles approaching them from behind.

"Damn it! We're being corner!" The thieves all hurdle together, back to back as Mona began to hissed. Archer's blade disappeared as a bow and arrow appeared.

"We have to keep the horde from reaching us…"

"For real! Dude what the hell is up with freaky bug eye freak!?"

"We need to find a way to beat him…" Mafiosa licked her lips as her spine shiver uncomfortably.

Archer turned his head towards her and glared. "Didn't I already say we can't fight a Servant? We need to find a way out."

"When you have come up with something, be sure to tell us!" Mona growled as he ready his blade. Archer opened his mouth to responded, but stop when he felt a gloved hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Joker grinning smugly.

"I found us an exit."

The thieves all turned towards him. Skull grinned sharply. "Ah! I knew we could count on you bud! What's—!"

"Arsene!"

A blue pillar of fire erupted from behind them as Joker removed his mask. The thieves barely had time to react when they felt being blasted off their feet and through the hole that had been made by the creature that had ambush them thanks to the casual flip of the gentleman thief's wings. The thieves flew into the open airs of the castle, their gaze focus on the red sky and fake hanging moon illuminating the world.

"WHAT THE HELL!?"

Skull's roar moved the thieves into action, all of them turning and glaring at Joker.

"What's wrong with you!?"

"Are you crazy!?"

"Joker!"

The dark thief grinned further, twirling in midair and pointing up. "Mona! Give us wind!"

Mona's round head snapped up, following the direction of the red gloved finger. He noticed the edge of the castle rooftop above them. The cat became still for a second, shot Joker a narrow glared and smirked.

"To think you would already be getting a flare for the dramatics already!" Mona crossed his arms, gravity taking a hold of him and the thieves as they began to fall. "Zorro!"

The bulky Persona burst into existence, grinning boyishly as with one hand on his hip he slashed the air. Powerful current of winds roar from underneath the group, blowing them up towards the castle rooftop. They passed the edge of the rooftop and looked down. Mona's large eyes looked around, noticing the crates and barrels by the side—guard rails and cannons, it look like a place to be used to protect the castle from a full on attack. His eyes roamed away from it and saw the large tower covered in thorns. He lightened up immediately in delight at what he was sensing from the tower. "That's the…that's where the treasure is!"

Mafiosa looked at the cat, with wide eyes. "Are you crazy!? We can't keep going with that bug eye creep after us!"

"Crap! Speak of the asshole creep and he comes!" Skull's cry made them freeze as they all turned to the edge of the rooftop just in time to see dozens of the aquatic creatures and tentacles climbing, writhing and launching themselves up towards them—with the Caster leading them towards and looking at them with a mad gaze.

"AAAAAAAAA—!" The screech from the Servant was inhumane and nerve racking as the thieves stared at the Caster be wrapped with tentacles beneath his robe and fly towards them. The creatures followed after their master, spreading their tentacles wide and mouth completely ajar.

Archer reacted, aiming his bow and arrow at the fast approaching Caster, he overflowed the arrow with as much prana as he could—feeling the circuits inside of him burn and crackled at the pressure and speed he had applied to them, he gritted his teeth and glared. His mask burned away, revealing his true face as the arrow glowing red and crackling with excess prana he cocked it back and let his fingers go.

"Back…OFF!" The arrow flew, an explosion of power followed as it sailed towards the mad Caster. The Servant quickly recognized the danger and raised his human-skin book, from the open pages, tentacles sprouted out wrapping around him like cocoon. Beneath the Servant, the tentacle wrapped beneath his robe spawned quickly three of the creatures in a horrifying show—the newly born creatures in a disgusting and nauseating movement, screeched and jumped right in front of the path of the arrow in time—

KABOOM!

The explosion rocketed the entire area, illuminating the rooftop blue from the explosion of the prana charged arrow—the thieves covered their faces as they watched the event still in midair.

"Holy shit man!" Skull looked at Archer with wide eyes. "Since when were you packing exploding freaking arrows!?"

Archer grunted. "Since always…but it drains me a lot to do it…so I keep it as a reserve."

"How many shots do you have!?" Joker demanded as his eyes flickered from the smoking wreckage to the bow with laser-pointed focus.

"I have two more overcharge shots read—!" His answered was interrupted as from the smoked tentacles speared forward, intending to skewered them to pieces. He gritted his teeth and raised his bow—

BLAM! BLAM!

Two shots from Mafiosa's sniper made an incoming a tentacle flinched back. The dark hair girl glared at the disgusting limbs as she aimed at the other tentacles. "Don't you ever give up, you freak!?"

"Raaaaaaagh!" Skull roared as he brought his shotgun forward and started to unload on the tentacles. Joker and Mona followed suit, bringing their weapons out and firing alongside the others. Archer too copied them, projecting normal arrows for now as he started to fire shot after shot.

The onslaught from the hailing bullets and arrows was spectacular, fueled with their determination to live and fight back. Their projectiles were like shooting stars, smashing against the enemies and rendering their flesh to pieces under their combined might. Eight seconds after they started unloading everything they had and the limbs were pushed back—

"Get dunk on asshole!" Skull roared as he continue to shoot his now empty shotgun. "Crap—!"

"I'm out!" Mona grumbled as they continue with their descent for the floor.

"Me too!" Shiho checked her sniper rifle with a grimaced as she threw a look at Archer who grunted in annoyance.

"I've used to much magic to make that many arrows…if I keep going, then I'll tired myself out completely."

"I got one bullet left…" Joker said with supreme focus as he aimed it a the clearing smoke from the past explosion, seeing Caster gazing at them with wide eyes. Aiming his gun straight for the Servants forehead, the thief's lips formed into a crooked grin. "And it's got that freaks name on—!?"

Before he could finish his one-liner—the floor underneath the thieves broke apart, a creature darting up towards them. They flinched as the looming shadows encroached them and caught them completely by surprise. One of the Servant's monsters floated idly beside them—

"—!" The screech that it let out was ear-shattering, making them recoiled and cover their ears—leaving themselves completely opened for the flailing hurricane of attacks as the monster wailed on them with its tentacles. Sledge hammer like strikes hit them all over their bodies, knocking the wind and daylights out of them. The force of the powerful strikes sent them rocketing in random directions on top of the rooftop.

Archer crashed violently, a silent scream tearing out of his throat as he spun on the floor and crashed into a barrel. His entire body was sullied in black, getting into his mouth, nose and right eye. He cough and tried to clean himself, hissing violently as his hand went for his right knee and grip it. He glared down at it with his good eye, and saw it bent awkwardly. Wincing in shuddering pain, he moved to stand with his good knee—he brought his hand forward and saw the black substance, blinking in surprise as he recognize it.

 _'Black…powder…?'_

CRASH!

He flinched, eyes wide as he whirled around to look at the tentacled monster that had landed right beside him. His body moved on its own, he rolled away just in time for the creature to take a riotous bite where he had been. He winced and let out pain filled grunts as his broken knee scraped and skidded through the roof floor—getting on a single knee he pointed his bow at the creature, already projecting an arrow—

CRASH!

Ten loud thuds exploded around him, surrounding him. Archer looked around as the dust and rubble faded to reveal the salivating, twitching creatures. His eyes went wide, flickering towards Caster, who towered above the roof—cooing at the situation the thieves found themselves trap in.

Joker was by himself in a similar situation to Archer, surrounded and waving his gun fruitlessly as he was backed into a corner.

Skull was being pushed to the edge of the rooftop, his lightning barely even fazing the monsters. Now he was using Captain Kidd and the bar in his hand to fend off the monsters with pure physical force. He was failing, and badly.

Mona couldn't be seen, his small stature hiding him as the aquatic creatures attacked a spot in the corner of the barrel-filled rooftop.

Mafiosa was receiving the worse treatment—Caster himself was attending to her. The girl's Persona was shooting her blessed attacks, destroying the creatures with her might. But all her efforts were lost when five more monsters appeared for every creature she destroyed.

Archer bared his teeth, fist clenched tightly.

 _'…we…we underestimated the Servant…no…I underestimated him, I'm the one who is the most knowledgeable about them…and I couldn't keep them safe…! Damn it!'_ He frowned, his hold over his bow tightening as he glared at the monster moving towards him slowly. _'I didn't realize that this Caster would corner us like this…it had planned for this back in the chapel, but we blindsided him and managed to escape. He recovered far too quickly…damn it all, how couldn't I see it! I could've warn them! But…it doesn't matter now, we're in check…but it isn't a checkmate yet…_

 _No…I still have **that** …'_

His most destructive weapon.

Despite how much magical energy _it_ would cost him, _it_ was the best move in order to defeat the mad Caster. He looked in the direction the Servant and immediately scraped that course of action.

 _'No…what needs to be done here isn't victory but retreat. I need to use **it** to give the others a chance to escape and live…but what can I do?' _His eyes travelled along the rooftop and saw just how separated the thieves were, analyzing the rooftop quickly just as a monster got in his view and forced him to slid back—minding the monster behind him. _'No! I refuse to believe that there isn't a way to save all of them! This just can't be happening! I need to get them out safely…maybe…maybe if I destroy the rooftop…from my position, Mafiosa, Joker and Skull will fall…but that will leave Mona…but…if I can get into a higher position…I can shoot my final arrow and save him…yes…that will do…_

 _I won't survive…but at the very least…I can save them…it was my fault Mafiosa got involved in this…and because of it, Skull and Joker felt convince that they should go through with Mona's plan. It's my fault…so I should bear the responsibility…it's okay.'_

His magic circuits went into overload, prana pumping through his system like a raging fire. His body felt as if it was melting—

He was pushing himself beyond his limit.

 _'I won't put it pass Forte to know that I died…if she knows, then there's a chance mom and dad will know too…then that's okay…they will find a way to keep themselves safe, and Sella, and Liz…and you too, Illya…without me in the way…you can be safe from the hands of the Mage Association…'_ He opened his left hand, as a large concentration of prana started to take shape. Electric green magical energy twirled and twirled until the form of a sword started to appear. _'It's okay…just focus…it's okay Shirou…there's no reason to feel regr—!? Wait, why is Joker pointing his gun at me!?'_

Joker looked straight at him, eyes wide and focus. The opening the creatures from his side and from the redhead—it gave him a clean shot towards him. For a second, Shirou's heart stop as he noticed the dark thieves eyes—red and vicious eyes stared back at him.

Joker smirked toothily, a bead of sweat rolling down his cheek left cheek.

"It's show time…!"

BANG!

The bullet sailed passed Archer's shock expression, passed the writhing creature—

And towards the barrel with black powder.

KABOOM!

The explosion that went off engulfed the creature completely, tearing limbs and chunks from it as it flailed in surprise at the violence—it's body had absorbed the most potent and deadly wave of the explosion.

Leaving Archer to take the rest of the brunt and sending him flying up into the air.

The shockwave knock the wind out of his lungs, his vision spiraled out of control and his ears rang. He looked down, his body perpendicular to the ground and he saw Joker shouting something at him.

It couldn't have been possible. Despite his ringing ears, despite his disorientation—He heard him clear as day.

"Use the exploding arrows on the barrels near Mafiosa!"

His eyes went wide at Joker's demands, looking at Mafiosa's direction, he saw it.

Barrels, all line up and packed orderly by the dozens. It was true that were those that had been misplaced by the chaos, or had been broken because of it.

 _'Impossible… How…how could Joker…?'_ In his shock, his body moved on its own as he projected an arrow and cocked it the direction of the assign target. Magical energy flowed into the projected arrow, fueling it with power. _'Did he…find the solution…the answer to this checkmate?'_

He let the arrow fly—the sudden high and hard release of magical energy had the Servant's monsters acting up. Tentacles roused up behind Caster to protect him from the attack. The Servant didn't even look back or paid it any heed.

The arrow whisked past him. Caster blinked looked at the red streak as it sailed through the air. It headed straight for the grouped up barrels—

The arrow hit it's mark.

KABOOM!

There was nothing but fire. It spread through the rooftop where Mafiosa and Skull were, covering the violent monsters in its fiery embraced. The sound of explosion and fire were accompanied by the loud screeches of the creatures as they burnt. The sudden violence caused Caster to recoiled back as a barrel was sent flying his way by the explosions and then following its companions, it exploded right beside him. The shock made him screeched in a inhumane cry, the shockwave nearly made the book be torn from his grasp—this fact caused the creatures to freeze up, their screeching coming to a complete halt and their attempts to put out the flames to stop.

This was something that did not escape Archer's eyes as he looked at the human-skin cover book.

"Mona! Fan the flames! I want a this entire roof lit up!" Joker roar as he used his arms to protect himself from the explosions and flames. Back in the corner were the cat thief was, the sound of struggling and yowling pierced the through the hot wind.

"Get…off…ME!" A pillar of blue fire pushed the creatures back, enough to give Mona room to jump up and revealed his bruised and bloodied form. Hissing with bared sharp teeth, he glared at the recovering Servant and at the fire. "You want me to fan those damn flames!? I'LL GIVE YOU A HURRICANE YOU BUG EYE FREAK!"

Zorro tore through the pillar of the rebellious fire, fueled by the gentlemanly cat's righteous fury—the Persona wasted no times in theatrics nor in spectacle. Zorro pulled its big beefy arm back, holding onto his blade tightly, the usual rogued grin on Zorro's face was replaced by an animalistic snarl. The Persona then swung its blade—

And unleashed a storm.

The ground was scraped clean.

The debris was sent flying.

And the fire grew into a magnificent tornado.

Everything burned, the creatures, Caster and the rooftop. The winds had fanned the fire, then twisted and imprison everyone in a dome of blazing fury. It was a spectacular show of power.

It was also a distraction.

It was the very thing the thieves needed.

"SKULL!" Joker's voice cut through the chaos, reaching the thieves ears—they all listen attentively, adrenaline and the dark thief's confident and desperate orders had them on edge. "RAM THE BUG EYE FREAK!"

Through the fire, Captain Kidd emerge—the blonde riding the ship grinned like a mad man as his Persona rocketed forward like a bullet.

"TAKE THIS! ASSHOLE!" Writhing and burnt tentacles roused up to defend the caught off guard Caster—but they were too slow. The mad Servant was hit straight on by the Persona's ship, knocking the wind and vision out of him as he was sent flying into the fire, disappearing under the blazing storm. Skull grinned viciously at that, but stopped when white blinding light burst behind him. He turned just in time for Mafiosa to board his Persona's ship, bruised and hurt, but smiling at him. He looked past her and saw evaporating creatures, he looked away from the carnage and grinned at her. "Let's get the others!"

"Let's go!"

Joker saw what had happened and smirked as he ripped his mask off, letting Arsene out—the demonic gentleman thief laughed viciously as it roared in pure delight, unleashing a gash of wind with his wings, giving the dark thief room to get out of his corner. He looked up at the falling Archer and panicked.

"Archer!" He called out as jumped through the small open, space—Arsene kicking the monsters with a disdainful strike, sending the burning monster sprawling into even more fire and catching Archer just before he hit the floor. He looked at the awestruck redhead. "Are you okay?"

Archer just looked at him in surprised. "How did you come up with this counterattack…?"

"Huh?" Joker blinked owlishly at him, before he shook his head and grabbed him. The dark thief pulled right arm over his shoulder and supported the redhead. "I noticed the black powder earlier, then I the barrels here were stuff of interest to me…so I just winged it…"

"Winged…it…?" Archer repeated in disbelief just as Captain Kidd burst into the scene and floated by their side. Skull looked at them and offered his hand.

"Come on!"

Joker looked at the blonde with amazement before he grinned and handed Archer to him. Shiho burst from behind the blonde and helped the injured redhead get on the ship. Joker jumped in and looked around—

"Where's Mona!?"

"Here!" The teenagers all flinched and looked back, seeing the bruised cat looked at them with wide eyes. "We need to move! Bug eyes is coming for round 3!"

"What—!?" Skull started, but stopped when he noticed dark tendrils twitching and waving through the flames. "Crap! This creep just keeps on coming!"

Joker eyes narrowed, his mask still absent from his face as he looked to the side and gave a shaky grin. "Skull…"

"Huh?"

"Charge forward."

Archer's eyes went wide. "Are you crazy!? We need to pull back!"

"No…" Joker focused on the dozens of tentacles appearing within the flames, writhing and looming closer. "We can't retreat unless we want to get burn alive…and I doubt that creepy Servant or whatever didn't put a trap for us if we retreat…but…"

"You think going forward is the only way…?" Mafiosa questioned as the dark thief nodded. He looked at the blonde and pointed towards the large tower.

"Mafiosa, get Irene to the front of Captain Kidd's ship…when I scream 'now' raise the tip of the ship up…Mona, get Zorro ready for another wind spell."

"Got it!" Was the twin cry, as the two prepared to do as told. Archer glared at Joker, shaking his head and trying to get back to his feet in the cramp space.

"Joker…what are you planning exactly…?"

"…" Joker looked back at him, his shaky grin became more stable and widened into a sharp smirk. "Just watch me."

At that very moment, dozens of tentacles darted forward like a snake ready to eat its prey. Faster than bullets, they went for their prey swinging widely from left to right to up and down—it was a certain death.

Yet—

Skull who once given his orders had been silent and attentive for the moment the enemy reacted.

And he did—when he noticed the tentacles stiffened, reeling back and ready to launch themselves forward. As a former track and field sports member in the past, he recognized the intention and movement. He may be dumb when it came to books, but when it came to the physical—he was at his best there.

So, it was because of Skull recognizing this fact, that certain death was avoided, as he mentally commanded for Captain Kidd to shoot off forward a second earlier—just as the tentacles went forward, swinging widely from left to right to up and down.

The thieves held on, Mona opening his mouth to criticizes the blonde for the abrupt movement until he saw the tentacles and immediately went into his position. Irene was called forth and the female Persona held onto the front of the ship, ready to do as order. Captain Kidd's skull-like face grin as the tentacles chased after him, death looming just mere inches away.

But the tentacles were swinging from left to right to up and down, a fact that Joker had noticed earlier and something that he took careful consideration now. So, at the moment some of the tentacles swung left, less than three meters were before them.

They swung right, less than one meter.

They swung up—

"NOW!"

Irene pulled the tip of the ship up, every thief holding tightly onto whatever they could grab just as the tentacles hit the underside of the ship with the overwhelming force of a freight train. Captain Kidd wince at the mistreatment, but kept focus as everything shook and rumble. The Captain grit his teeth, snarling as tried to get the out of control motion back in order.

Skull glared forward and the rumbling stopped, leaving the thieves sailing through the winds and above the storm of fire like a rising rocket.

"RYEEEEEAAH!" Skull roared, pumping one fist into the air. Captain Kidd grin in unison to his master, pointed his cannon arm into the air and fired thunder. Skull's teeth could be seen as he looked down and screamed even louder. "WE FREAKIN DID IT!"

"This is—!" Mafiosa squeaked, her heart hammering against her chest.

"Don't let your guard down!" Mona screamed as he looked down from the edge of Captain Kidd's ship. "That bastard isn't giving up just yet!"

"Doesn't he let up!?" Skull growled as he looked from the same spot as his cat companion. Dozens of tentacles roused after them, reaching after the ship in less than a second. The limbs writhe and twitching violently, blood and burns painting over their body.

"…!" Archer growled, rolling to the other side of the ship—ignoring the excruciating pain in his bad knee, he got to the ship's side and aimed his bow with an arrow. He started to pack it with magic, but—

"Wait, Archer!"

The redhead flinched and glared at Joker. "There's no time to waste!"

The tentacles were a mere five meters away from them—

"Arsene! NOW!"

From the right, a barrel burning in fire was rocketed forward. Faster than a bullet, it intercepted the tentacles just as the horrendous limbs were just three meters away from reaching them—one of the tentacles impacted the barrel, broke it apart and released the black powder within for the awaiting hungry flames.

A moment of abated silenced as the thieves all went wide eyes—

KABOOM!

The explosion shook and burned away the air. The already hurt and burnt tentacles were shredded to chunks, only leaving gory and bleeding stumps recoiling back in pain. The dark and inhumane limbs retreated back and gave the rocketing thieves the freedom they had worked so hard to accomplished.

"Shit!" Skull screamed in pain, his ears ringing loudly and his head throbbing from the explosion—so much so that his concentration on keeping his Persona summoned was broken. Captain Kidd disappeared and left the thieves spiraling out of control in the air, going straight up to the top of the tower thanks to the explosion.

Mona flipped in midair, controlling his body once more as he rocketed for the tower. His big blue eyes went wide as their target near. "We're nearly there!"

"MONA!" The cat flinched at the cry from the mask-less Joker and turned around, he hissed at what he saw coming after them.

"Ah! Come on!" There bursting from the fire and coming after them with fiery and crazed determination was the Servant. Covered in uncountable injuries, ranging from the bubbling burnt flesh and cloth, to the bleeding injury from debris stuck in the right side of his stomach. The tentacles coiled around his legs, elevating him up in his mad dash for them. Caster screeched inhumanly, whether from the pain or in fury, it was still a cry that chilled the thieves to the bone.

"He just won't stop!" Mafiosa ground out as she ripped her mask off and Archer ready his final arrow against the incoming Servant. They were stopped when Joker loudly snapped his fingers and shook his head, he turned towards the cat thief.

"Mona! On my signal, use Zorro and blast us to the right!" Joker ordered as he kept his focused on the crazed Servant.

"I can't make another huge blast like earlier!"

"Don't worry—!" The dark thief gained an intense look as he looked at something beyond the incoming Caster. "Just use a wind spell strong enough to blast us to the side…"

"Joker…!" Archer started, his eyes focused on the teenage thief— _'What are you planning!?'_

Ten meters.

Eight meters.

Six meters.

Four meters.

"NOW!"

Mona's eyes went wide and hissed. "Zorro!"

Two meters—the gentlemanly Persona swiped his sword at the group.

One meter—the mad Servant reached forward, tentacles and creatures sprouting from the very tentacles like the nightmare they were. They reached hungrily towards their target. Caster's bulging eyes widen even further, a dark glint coloring his gaze—

Less than a meter—the wind hit the thieves, all of them grunted in pain at the strong impact—

Zero meters—the mad Servant dashed passed the thieves, their dodge fully successful.

Caster turned his head around, already the tentacles wrapped around his legs turning a mere meter away in a impossible maneuver. "AAAAAAAAA! You're not escap—AARGH!?"

The Servant's word were forced back down his throat, as a clawed hand grabbed a hold of his stony face harshly. Long talon-like nails were purposely stabbing into his skin.

"ARSENE!" Joker roared, a mad and sadistic grin on his lips as the thieves spiraled towards the side of the tower and away from the Servant. "Smash him through!"

"—!" A cruel laughter rang through the air as the demonic thief flew. Wings spread wide and pouring as much power into its hold, Arsene shot off forward. The tentacles attempting to hold onto Caster failed to do so as they nearly ripped his legs off through the sheer violent pulled. The Persona cared not for the state of the enemy, and flew with all it's might towards the castle tower with a badly injured Caster in his grasp.

In an instant—

CRASH!

The loud and violent impact, accompanied by the bloodcurdling and wet cry of the Servant reached the thieves ears. Joker grinned, his face burned blue and his mask was back on. He pointed forward with much enthusiasm.

"Archer! Shiho! Fire everything you have!"

The two thieves didn't need to hear anymore—they understood perfectly well.

"Irene! Put him down for good!" The Persona smiled crookedly, with harsh movements she swiped her umbrella in the direction of the down Caster. Powerful and blinding orbs of light were unleashed from the Persona, rushing forward like the bullets of an uncontrollable submachine gun.

"Checkmate!" Archer ground out as he unleashed the arrow.

Both the projectile and light rushed for the disoriented Caster who was stuck on the wall, bloody and moaning in pain. Both attacked raced, trying to reach their target first—

And then, as if realizing that there was no need to compete—both arrow and light became one.

Spinning like a rising star, they reached their target—Caster only had enough time to look in the direction of the light, with eyes widening in shock.

—!

There was no sound as everything went white.

…

….

…..

Slowly, color started to return back into the world—

"Whoa…!"

Mafiosa's amazed tone made Archer blinked owlishly, his vision still reeling from the backlash of the blast. He shook his head and looked at the arm wrapped around his torso, he looked to the side and saw Joker holding tight and preventing him from falling or injuring himself. He blinked and saw Joker, Mafiosa, Skull and Mona holding onto the side of the castle tower, managing to crash into it when the world went white. He bit the inside of his cheeks when he noticed all of them looking up, he followed their gaze—

"Oh…"

It was the only thing he could've said. On the side of the large tower, a giant hole had been puncture through—wide enough that almost the entire wall facing the rooftop was gone. It was a testament of their struggles. Smoke blew from it, the tentacles and monstrosity belonging to the Servant were frozen in place, those too close to the blast wither away from the blessed explosion—while those below in the burning roof turned to ashes.

It was a complete and well strategized checkmate.

"We…won…" Archer trailed off as he looked at the destroyed tower side. Joker looked at him, then let his eyes wander for the rest of the team and nodded towards the smoking hole.

"Let's go up there…Mona, here." With one hand he reached for a can of energy drink and gave it to the cat. "Drink up, we really need you to heal us up…"

"Got it! Let's go, I can't sense any Shadow nearby…!"

With that they moved, climbing up the tower carefully. Joker held onto Archer tightly, not wanting for him to fall off his grasp. Shiho looked down at the injured redhead and winced, but focused on her task.

Minutes later, they arrived to the smoking destroyed hole and climb through it. They looked around, but only saw a burnt and badly destroyed hall—but…

"Hey guys…where's bug eye creep?" Skull's question made the thieves worry as they found no trace of the Servant.

Joker placed Archer down on the floor and motioned for Mona to come over. "We'll worry about that later…come on Archer, you're gonna be alright."

"Yeah…" The redhead winced as he looked at his leg, the adrenaline of battle wearing off and letting the pain finally filtered in. Fortunately it didn't last, his body was covered in a green glow and he felt himself recovering from his injuries. He looked up to Mona who had a focused expression.

"…Dia. Alright, I think you're good enough to stand on your own two feet." The cat stared at him with an small smile. Archer moved to get to his feet, stumbling slightly and mummering a soft thank you. Once he was finally up, he looked down at his knee and winced when he bent it.

"Hrm…"

"Don't worry about it." Mona dismissed his silent complaints as he went to the others. "Come on, let's get you all patch up! There's a treasure we need to find!"

.

.

.

.

 **"What the fuck do you mean they are still alive!?"**

The enraged and snarled words of Kamoshida's Shadow echoed through the king's throne room. In front of the fuming king was a single golden knight knelt before his lord, to ashamed to look up as he answered.

"The Servant, Caster…he went to attack them…but fail, the thieves managed to defeat him and proceed into the inside of this tower."

 **"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! What the fuck!? How could those damn peasant brats get passed Caster!? Not even those two previous intruders managed to do that!"** Kamoshida glared at the knight, his face red with indignation. **"You! Why didn't you or the others shadows help Caster!"**

"My lord…you were the one who ordered us not to interfere when the Servant went into fight…not after the other previous intruders nearly blasted past the lower areas of the castle last month."

 **"FUCK! How did they do it!? Was it because they were sneaking around like rats!?"**

The king and knight, to distracted with their discussion never saw the shadows darting from left to right. The moving shadows approached the door behind the staircase of the throne and entered it silently, leaving the enraged king completely unaware. The door was shut quietly.

"We here…" Mona said quietly, a massive grin on his face as they faced another pair of great doors—behind it, there laid the Treasure.

"What did he mean by other intruders…?" Archer murmured quietly as he looked at the ground with a troubled expression. He turned to look at the door behind him.

"Archer-kun…? Are you okay?" Mafiosa voice made the redhead flinched and looked back at the girl. His eyes drifted to the side and saw the other thieves already inside the treasure room, gawking at the golden artifacts inside. "Archer-kun…?"

"I'm fine…but…" He frowned, shook his head and walked into the golden room. Mafiosa stared at his back, eyes narrowed as she went to follow after him.

"Whoa! What'sa that hazy floating thing?" Skull asked as he looked at the cloudy presence. Mona grinned as he crossed his arms.

"That's the Treasure."

Joker put his right hand on his pockets as he reached out for the hazy Treasure with his free hand. "But we can't grab it…my fingers are just passing through it…"

"That's because there's one more step left to do!" Mona smirked, turning around and crossing his arms as he looked up at the group. "Now that we have secured the route, all that's left to do is go to the real world."

"Oh come on dude…can't you just be straight with us!?" Mona just huffed at Skull's grumbling.

Archer looked at the three, turning his head slightly to see Mafiosa smiling at the groups antics. The redhead took a step back, lips pulled down as he narrow his eyes behind his mask in thought.

 _'Two intruders…what could it mean…could Black Mask be targeting me? But why go after a teacher…? Could it be him sending a message? No it doesn't make sense…because it was stated that there were two intruders, not one…does that mean the Black Mask isn't a single entity? Of course, the words from Kamoshida's Shadow confirm that there were two intruders that attacked the lower levels of the castle a month ago…but neither Amamiya nor Sakamoto had their powers for more than a week at most. Hrm…this is getting complicated, but this means that I've finally taking a step towards finding out how to stop this mess. Once I'm done…mom, dad, Sella, Liz…Illya, you won't have to worry anymore!'_

"Archer-kun?" The redhead looked up and saw the rest of the group looking at him. Mafiosa's lips pursed slightly as she took a step towards him.

"Is everything okay?" Shirou stared at her for a moment, bowed his head and turned away.

"Yeah…just thinking about the Servant and how lucky we were." The redhead let out a breath and shook his head. _'Better keep this to myself…I'll need to make the others hurry up with taking down Kamoshida and make sure they never do something like this again. And—'_

"You know we all trust you, right?"

Shirou's stiffened at those words, he turned toward Joker who was looking at him with a flat gaze. The redhead chewed on the insides of his cheeks as he considered how to respond.

"I know…I trust you as well."

A noncommited response, something not lost on the others. Mona opened his mouth to say something—

SNAP!

Everyone looked at Joker with his fingers up in the air, seeing the dark thief for a brief moment looked at Mona and shake his head. The leader of the group looked back at him and gave a slow nod.

"I see. Then let's go, we can discuss our next move tomorrow." Joker said this words, regarding Skull, Mafiosa and Mona. He finally looked at Archer moved towards the exit. The redhead watched the dark thief passed by him and he turned to look at his back.

"Urgh…tension got pretty high, huh…" Archer heard Skull grumble this and the sound of hair being scratched. The snort from Mona was derisive and mocking. The two passed by him, following after Joker.

"Shirou-kun…" He turned towards Mafiosa, towards Shiho and saw her raise her mask up. Her eyebrows crease and she took a step towards him. "I know you heard something that bothered you, but…you don't have to bottle it all up you know? You told me that you're fighting for something you want to protect, your family right? You've told me that getting involve in whatever problem could get me in problems…but now I have power! I can fight! So—!"

"Stop." Shiho's heated words got stuck in her throat, her shoulders sagging as she looked at him with a hurt gaze.

"Shirou-kun…but…"

"Shiho-san, let's end this thing with Kamoshida so that we can save all the abuse students and your friend Ann." He stated firmly, he moved his hand for his mask and raised it up to show his golden eyes. "But…when we're done with this, you nor any others wont be getting involve with this world anymore. After this, it's over. All of this."

"What?" The girls eyes narrowed and she took a step forward. "You can't just make th—hey! Shirou! Don't turn away from me just like that!"

Shirou moved, followed a by a fuming Mafiosa. He stopped when he felt the narrowed gazes of his fellow thieves. Skull was tapping his foot on the floor aggravatedly, teeth bare and looking straight at him. It was Joker's firm grip on his shoulder that kept the blonde from saying anything. The redhead felt the urge to clicked his tongue at the fact that his words had been heard by the others. He simply looked at all of them, lowered his mask and moved forward to exit the treasury room.

 _'I'm sorry Shiho…but I can't let any feelings of friendship or companionship get in the way of what I really need to do.'_ He frowned, clenching his fist tightly as he felt a weight pressure in on his shoulders.

 _'It had been fun doing all of this…but I can't afford having fun when I should be prioritizing my family._

 _What I did wasn't wrong, and I won't regret it. But I can't afford any more deviations._

 _I'll burn all these bridges when I'm done…_

 _There's only one thing I should be focusing on right now._

 _Capturing Black Mask and securing the safety of my family that is all._

 _I will be returning back to Forte…there's no doubt in my mind what she has planned for me when she finally gets thing moving._

 _But at least now I have a piece of information that I can leverage just in case, dealing with magus isn't all about brute strength. But about giving up something exchange._

 _As long as Illya and the others will save…then I don't care._

 _They are all that matters._

 _But…_

 _Why do I feel as if that isn't enough…'_

* * *

 **AUTHOR' NOTE**

 **Hey there! It's been a while now hasn't it? Yep, well that's what college life and now baring the responsibilities of an adult seems to be doing. I haven't had much time to do anything really! It's been quite exhausting and draining.** **Fortunately I got this chapter ready just in time for all of you as Christmas present for all of you. I hope you all enjoy it, it was fun writing and fixing this chapter.**

 **It kinds of brings me to my next point, of course that being that this story will now be monthly. I simply can't force myself to try and write this story to be weekly or anything like that. So you'll be seeing this story updating every month, unless something comes up and I'll be running late. But let's cross that bridge when we get there.**

 **As for the story, we're hitting important plot elements that will affect the rest of the story right here. And as you already read, I'm not wasting time. Last story I wasted way to much time with Kamoshida's palace, here I'm focusing more the important aspects and such.**

 **But anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Please review and leave your thoughts.**

 **Until next time! Adios!**


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